Luck's Always to Blame
by sushi4427
Summary: "What a stroke of luck!" Lucky exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Hah!" Bunnymund laughed. "Luck. I see what you did there." "Did you like it?" "No." The Guardians are worried when the Man in the Moon picks a fairly new immortal to be a Guardian, and even more worried when he doesn't say why. Jack FrostxOC *hides in hater-proof bunker*
1. Prologue

_Luck's Always To Blame_

**Author's Note: This is very unlike me.**

**I normally hate it when people write fanfics shipping their OCs with other characters, because it seems like they're shoving that pairing down your throat. I know that's not the case, though; they like a character and want to give them a love interest, or like a character and the only way they can be with them is vicariously through another character. Granted, this story isn't even solely a romance between my OC and Jack Frost, just as the movie wasn't solely Jack Frost and Tooth Fairy (I tried shipping it, because I usually support the canon/implied canon, but I simply couldn't.) But I can still see why people wouldn't want to read it. Which is okay. Never read something you don't think you'd enjoy, for it takes all the magic out of the action.**

**But if you are- well, you obviously are-, thanks!**

**Any slang will be explained in the final author's note. Sorry it looks sloppy, Fanfiction hates me and my beloved WordPad. I actually did research, guys! :D This chapter also includes things such as gambling, drinking, smoking, attempted rape, and murder, but that's the last of that, I promise. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

_"In short, Luck's always to blame."_

_Jean de La Fontaine_

Prologue

It's 1922, and it's loud.

The whole atmosphere of the casino was one of complete illegality, complete drunken rowdiness, and I was silently amazed that a bull(1) hadn't broken down the door and ordered everyone's hands up. I sat tensely on my bright red stool, slightly higher than the chairs at the game tables, which made me feel like a vulnerable trophy in this brewing pot of criminality.

There was a shout of joy from another table, and everyone in the speakeasy(2) grumbled in reluctant understanding that someone, someone that wasn't them, had won a game. I could tell by almost all the men at one table throwing down their cards that they were the unlucky party. Luck. They were contributing to a government downfall in their very own boulevard of broken dreams, and these people were counting on luck to save them.

It was almost sad.

"Mother?" I murmured, knowing immediately afterwards there was no hope of her hearing me at that volume. It was my mother who brought me here; my father had left her the last time she'd gambled away his earnings as a doctor. I was usually with him, but he had a last-minute appointment- he was helping to birth a baby- and had no choice but to leave me with her for the night. With an infantile huff, she dragged me here and sat me on the stool like a child before proceeding to illegally gamble away her own salary. "Mother?"

"What?" she barked, turning around for a moment before averting her eyes back to the game.

"Well, I was just thinking-"

"Dangerous thing to do for a dame(3) like yourself," she replied, reaching into her purse. "Here's a clam(4). Buy a drink, Shirley, and live a little." I took the outstretched bill, well aware that she was more interested in me going away than me living anything. I twirled the bill between my fingers, surprised that she'd given me that much, and jumped off the stool.

I was not going to buy any bootleg(5), that was for sure. As I headed towards the door, I tried to recall the normal fare for a jitney(6), and if I could catch one at all. The door was constantly being obstructed by drunken patrons, and each time I felt my escape was being blocked. This was merely a matter of paranoia, until a couple sober patrons blocked my way.

"Hey baby," a bimbo(7) cooed, making me tense. "You seem a little young to be here."

"I was just leaving," I muttered, not looking him in the eye.

"Well th-" Suddenly, his eyes averted to the table behind me. "Hey!" I spun around just in time to see a man in the action of pulling a card from his sleeve. Suddenly, the patrons forgot about me and rushed towards him, fists raised. The man fell out of his seat in surprise.

"Wait!" I jumped in between them, holding out my hands.

"Move, Jane(8)," he sneered. "This bird(9) was cheating. He deserves whatever he gets."

"He doesn't deserve that," I murmured. And for some reason, they calmed down after that and the cheater simply got the bum's rush(10). After that, I didn't hesitate to leave, and rushed through the door. He was still outside, and I got a better look at him. He looked like the typical drugstore cowboy(11), and I decided to head the other way.

"Hey! Jane!" I turned around, mentally mapping out the conversation. He'd say thanks, I'd say you're welcome, sir, but I really must go.

"Yes?"

"Thanks for that," he told me, stepping closer. "Those guys woulda made short work of me."

"You're welcome," I replied, eyeing the other side of the road. "But I really need to-"

"No," he said, grabbing my arm. Suddenly, the air was much colder. "Let me thank you properly."

"I really need to go," I insisted, trying to pull away. In response, he threw me into the alley between the casino and the shoemaker's. I grabbed the wall and pulled myself up, letting out a loud scream. When I turned around, though, the only thing I saw was the deep nothingness of a barrel of a gun.

"It's best if it's quiet," he murmured.

"John!" We both turned towards the mouth of the alley. This man was taller and his hair was darker, and from the ample light the moon provided I could tell he wasn't happy. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I was just-"

"We talked about this, you double-crosser(12)," he snarled, pulling out a gun of his own. "Now let the girl go."

"Don't hurt him!" I exclaimed, pulling away from his limp grip and stepping in front of the moon-lit man. Right as I did this, he fired, and hit me somewhere in my abdominal area. I'm sure you can understand when I say I didn't really pay attention. My first thought was, how many guns do these people have peeking out of their pockets? Only after that did I feel as if I was hit by a jackhammer. I fell backwards, hitting the pavement, because my assailant had moved out of the way. I opened my mouth to scream from the agonizing pain, but nothing came out.

"Look what you did!" John, my attacker, exclaimed. "You killed her!"

"She's not dead yet," the other man murmured, leaning over me.

"But she will be," John insisted. "I'm getting a bull-"

"Do that and I'll tell them what you were about to do to her." The two men stared at each other, the moon shining brightly between them. How pretty it was... how bright it was... how welcoming in this moment of raw, searing pain.

"Put her in that trash can," John suggested, and one grabbed my shoulders while the other grabbed my legs. This made the bullet wound nigh unbearable, but sound still refused to escape me. The two men stuffed me in a rusty trash can, as suggested, and the last I ever heard of them was their frantic footsteps down the street.

The pain was so strong that the only comfort I could find was that dying would dull it forever. The moon comforted me until then, glimmering and powerful, giving me a glimpse of where I was going to go.

And at one point, I was sure that it became dark and the pain drained from my body.

But then I was awake, as awake as I had been that morning, the moon still winking at me. With a bit of difficulty, I escaped from my smelly prison and dusted myself off. Upon touching my dress, however, I discovered it was beaded and gleaming gold in the moon's merciful light. My hair was curled in a beautiful style I hadn't even seen on any celebrities, and rings dotted my fingers. How glamorous I was! How jealous Mother would be!

As it turned out, it was at that moment my mother exited the casino, trying her best not to stumble to her apartment. I ran up to her, ready to show her my ritzy(13) new outift. But upon touching her, my hand went straight through her shoulder, as if it wasn't even there. I backed up in surprise, and ended up doing so through an older gentleman. I spun around, facing the window to the casino, but I didn't see anything.

I was beautiful, but I was inivisble.

You are Lady Luck, the moon tells me.

He's been silent ever since.

**Author's Note: ****1****- a policeman ****2****- an illicit bar ****3****- a girl ****4****- a dollar ****5****- illegal liquor ****6****- a private bus; the fare was normally around five cents ****7****- strong man ****8****- any girl ****9****- general term for man or woman ****10****- ejection from an establishment ****11****- guy that stands on street corners trying to pick up girls ****12****- someone who back-stabs another ****13****- elegant, glamorous**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 1

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note:... What.**

**Well... um... hi. Sorry, I wasn't expecting that many people to follow it XD Well, despite the fact that you all dislike OC pairings like I do (hypocrites unite!), I'm glad you're still reading this. Responses time!**

**And hopefully I will not disappoint, Motaku! I'm glad you tried at all, thanks :)**

**Indeed, Savage Kill, I imagine it would. It wasn't as bad this time as it was for Jack in the movie, but it was still pretty bad.**

**Anime Girl! Hi! Oh, I love you, I can always count on you :)**

**Since Aqua already knows that I love her review, I will instead put a plug here (because if I read a fanfiction that I think my readers will like then I feel like it's my duty to tell them about it.) READ HER FANFICTION. It's AquaWolfGirl, it's called The Other Guardian, and you might already be reading it because it's kind of famous. But I'll mention it anyway, 'cause it's great ;)**

**OH OH OH. And it's going to be third-person from now on. The first person was just for the prologue.**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to do these? Well... I own Lucky (Gasp! Previews!)**

Chapter 1

It was an odd sight that met Tooth when she entered North's workshop (and yes, that means even more odd than it normally is.) The room was caked in colored powder, some of which was mixing with the over-excessive amounts of melting ice that snaked its way around the room. Almost half of the items were sliced or shattered, and to top it off were three very guilty-looking Guardians and a couple dizzy elves.

"Uh... what are you doing?" she asked, not sure if she even wanted to know.

"Decorating the workshop?" Jack replied, perching on his staff. Tooth fluttered over to the elves who, upon her attempts to stand them up, swayed and fell back over with idiotic grins on their faces. Tooth put her hands on her hips and looked at her fellow Guardians, waving her little fairies away as she waited. Oh snap, things just got serious.

"Well, ya see, we were...uh... playing hockey," Bunnymund answered. Tooth cocked her brow. "With the elves."

"Now why were you doing- 243 Teeter Ridge, Florida- that?"

"They were being bad," North boomed, stomping up to her. "They ate my cookies. Again."

"So you played _hockey _with them?" Tooth scolded. All the Guardians looked down, ashamed. "Keeping my own fairies in mind, I'm very ashamed."

"Sorry..."

"We are sorry..."

"You're right, mate." Sandy appeared next to Tooth, wagging his finger. The trouble-makers rolled their eyes, and a sand effigy of the destroyed room and a question mark appeared over the Guardian of Dream's head.

"Aw, don't worry about it, my friend!" North laughed, holding his stomach. "The yetis will clean it up." In the distance, the message of the yetis' message rang clear: "SERIOUSLY?!"

"This was the last time we were planning on doing it, anyway," North mumbled, lumbering over to some broken toys.

"The _last _time?" Tooth asked, horrified. "As in, you've done it before? Hey, is that why you are always insisting these meetings be here?"

"I don't see why you're so surprised!" Jack laughed as he floated lazily around the room.

"Aw, they like it!" Bunny assured, patting one of the teetering elves on the head. He fell down on his back. "They're actin' dizzy, but they're really havin' fun."

"Well-" Suddenly, the room darkened as night began its conquest, only to be defeated by the silver light of the moon moments later. Everyone was quiet out of respect for the Man in the Moon, but North's bushy eyebrows drooped suspiciously after a moment.

"Does Manny want to talk with us?" he mumbled, moving to the window that the moon pierced through and thankful that that entire area wasn't frozen over. Everyone else followed, their eyes transfixed on the pure, white glow.

But there were no silhouettes, just the streaks of frosty silver that was beginning to be sullied by leftover flecks of colored powder from the hockey game. No, Manny was feeling blunt that night. The ground suddenly opened, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Really?!" Jack exclaimed, pointing his staff at the hole. "I _just _became one. Why is he choosing another one now?"

"_This _one's the Leprechaun," Tooth said to Sandy, who nodded in agreement.

"Once again," Bunny silently begged, "please don't be the Groundhog, please don't be the Groundhog, please don't be the Groundhog!"

The awaited crystal effigy appeared, portraying a young woman in modernized 20s clothes, a flirtatious grin carved into her heart-shaped face and a card daintily held between her index and middle fingers.

"We'll be right one of these times," Tooth consoled a defeated Sandy.

"Lady Luck?" Bunny murmured, confused.

"Who's that?" Jack asked, flying close to the small projection.

"Did you not hear Bunny? That is Lady Luck," North replied, examining it as well. "Wait... Manny, is Lucky the new Guardian?"

"I don't get it," Jack said, floating to the ground. "We defeated Pitch not long ago. That'll keep him away for awhile... right?"

"I do not know," North replied. "But you are correct, why he pick another Guardian?" A question mark appeared over Sandy's head, displaying his confusion.

"'Specially one like Lucky," Bunnymund agreed, hopping up to the projection. "She's the newest of all the spirits."

"I know that it's suspicious and _probably _not good that he's picking a new Guardian so soon, but... Yay! Another girl!" Tooth exclaimed excitedly. All the men in the room turned to her, and the poor fairy even thought she saw the moonbeams shift. "Well, all of you are great, but a little estrogen never hurt anyone."

"Why do we need another Guardian?" North persisted, forgetting the accidental insult. "Is Pitch back?" But the moonlight had lost its surreal shade and clouds began their nightly sweep across the sky.

"Um, okay?" Jack snickered.

"Well, if Manny says she's the new Guardian, she's the new Guardian," Bunnymund stated. "How do we get her here?"

"Well that's easy," North laughed. "The same way we got Jack here."

"What?!" Tooth exclaimed, genuinely shocked. "No! We're not doing that! Jack, how should we get Lucky here?"

"What?" he asked, having become disengaged. "Oh... just stuff her in a sack. That's what you did with me."

"No! We are not doing that. She's a teenage girl, you have to be gent-" Tooth thought of it, and Sandy's arrow showed that he was thinking the same thing. "Jack. We need you."

"Whad'ya need, Tooth?" he questioned, absent-mindedly flicking his staff around (and freezing a few things in the process) as he floated lazily.

"Just go to Las Vegas and talk to her," Tooth said, not worried anymore. "I'm pretty sure it'll be easy."

"Why makes you say tha- oh. I get it. Go on, mate."

"... I do not get this plan. I like my sack." Sandy gave a cheerful thumbs-up.

"Okay, I'll go," Jack agreed, landing. "Any idea where she'll be?"

"Just look for the biggest, flashiest casino and go in there," Tooth instructed.

"Right. Because Vegas _isn't _full of big, flashy casinos," he grumbled.

"Don't worry, mate," Bunnymund assured. "She's a loud one. We can go with you, I 'spose."

"Sure," North agreed. "I have not been to Vegas for awhile. Well, except for last Christmas."

"I went there the day before yesterday," Tooth added unenthusiastically. Sandy motioned for them to leave. "Right, okay. North, can we use the sleigh?"

"I'm not getting in that bloody death trap!" Bunny exclaimed, backing away. "Besides, those reindeer were givin' me the death glare earlier. I'll take my tunnels. Anyway who wants to is welcome to follow me."

"That's probably a better idea," Tooth said. An image of a sleigh crashing into a casino appeared over Sandy's head.

"Sure," Jack agreed, though he secretly wished they could've taken the sleigh. North grumbled as he lumbered over to the bunny.

"Don't worry, mate," Bunnymund laughed. "I'll make it extra big for you." Then, with two taps and a jump, the Easter Bunny disappeared and everyone else followed.

The lights of Las Vegas were blinding compared to the darkness of the tunnel, and everyone (but Bunny, who was used to it by now) had to blink a couple times until the flashes of color dispersed in their eyes.

"We should split up," North suggested, sounding slightly drunk in his dizzy state. So they all chose different places to search, careful to stay hidden as they peeked inside for someone resembling the effigy at the North Pole. After about fifteen minutes of searching, Jack had retained a surprising amount of patience and was becoming relaxed with the routine. Look through the biggest window, she's not there, move onto the next one... He was actually about to fall asleep when he felt a grainy whip snap at his back.

"Ack! What the heck, Sandy?!" But from the look on the Sandman's face, Jack could tell that he'd probably been trying to talk to him for awhile now, and he readily followed when his friend pointed and began flying.

Jack wasn't entirely surprised at the casino Lucky had chosen that night, considering what Tooth told him. There were multi-colored fountains in the front, and the path was littered with palm trees and millionaires. After a few blinding attempts, Jack was able to make out the name in the neon sign: Hall of Spades.

Not worried about being believed in in a hotel full of adults, Jack followed a snazzy-looking fellow into the lobby while Sandy went to get everyone else. It was noisy, the noise exploding as if it was solid as he entered. The lobby had a color scheme of gold and white, with regal pillars extending all the way to the massive ceiling. On one side, another fountain shot water from the mouths of naked cherubs and uniformed bellboys balanced luggage with apathetic expressions. The other side was where everyone, rich and poor, young and old, was putting their hard-earned money on the line, and either watching it grow or dwindle away into nothing. The slots didn't discriminate.

"Put down the queen! _Put down the freaking queen_!" Jack spun around, surprised that someone was screaming so loudly, even in this environment.

"Ohhhhh." There she was, looking over the shoulder of a middle-aged tourist in a tacky shirt. He was biting his lip so hard that Jack worried it would start bleeding, and finally he chose a card and slammed it on the table.

"Really? The 9? Is nobody home(1)?" The man next to him, wearing what appeared to be an Elvis Presley cosplay, grinned and slammed down his own cards right as Lucky turned her back on her favorite. When she did this, Jack noticed some brown sparks erupt from him, but he doubted anyone else could see it.

"I'm not going to help you if you make a stupid move like that," Lucky murmured, her voice still carrying over the crowd. This was the first time Jack got a good look at her.

Her skin was tan and her hair was the color of chestnuts and curled to perfection, and carefully placed in it was a white headband with a peacock feather sticking out from it. She had a silver drop-waist dress with a white rope around the middle, and a lacy black shawl that covered her shoulders. Patterned black stockings stretched up to her knees, and they fed into sapphire shoes that matched her headband perfectly. She looked like a movie star from the 20s; this, of course, made sense, for that was when she came from.

Jack wasn't making a move to talk to her, but was instead leaning on his staff and watching what she did. He assumed the brown sparks meant bad luck, and that they were brought about by her turning around, putting a literal meaning to the term "Lady Luck has turned her back on you." What he really wanted to see was when she gave someone good luck, but that was something he'd have to wait for. Lucky passed a table with a mirror on it, which was used so that the dealers could keep an eye on the players while shuffling. But Lucky saw something very different in it, and they both smirked at the same time.

"Jack Frost," she chirped. She spun around and suddenly a card was in her hand and she sent it flying towards him. Jack jumped out of the way, amazed at how fast it had gone and how it was currently wobbling after being embedded into the wall. He turned around, but she was already there, her hands behind her back and the same flirtatious grin from the effigy being brought to life before him. "Isn't it ironic that the personification of cold is so very, very hot?"

"She's goin' to be a fun one!" Bunny laughed from his position outside.

**Author's Note: 1- referring to somebody stupid **

**Bunnymund. Is that like Desmund or something? You know, 'cause he's Australian? HOLY CRAP GUYS DID DESMUND FROM LOST DIE AND BECOME BUNNY?!**

**North: Lady Luck... How do you begin to explain Lady Luck?  
Tooth: Lucky is flawless!  
Sandy: *told through a series of images* I hear her hair's insured for 10,000 dollars!  
Bunny: I hear she does car commercials... and she's invisible.  
North: I hear she picked up a heads-up penny, and everyone around her won a million dollars.  
Jack: She threw a card at me once. It was awesome.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Ali: Indeed, she will be. Thanks for the first review :) I had 16 new followers, and none of them reviewed, so that really lifted my spirits. (Heh. Spirits. Didn't mean to do that.)**

**I'm so glad that you like Lucky, StarlitWave10 and Motaku1235 (besides 4427, 1235 is my favorite number combination :})! I had long since decided that that was **_**most likely **_**what she'd say in that scenario, but I wasn't sure about actually, you know, putting it down. In the end, though, I decided that I needed to stay true to her and use it. Lesson learned, kids: always stay true to your characters :)**

**Whoa, BlueAsh666. Drama bomb. I was literally just like "What ridiculous thing could they be doing?" and my awesome mind's like "HOCKEY WITH ELVES." Everyone, read this person's story, Courage, because it's awesome and I think the main character might be one of my favorite Fanfiction characters of all time. And I've read a bunch of Fanfiction. Just... this is Sushi being awkward. JUST READ IT.**

**Also, I added something to the end of chapter 1. It's in the author's note and it'll take two seconds to read, if you want to.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, just Lucky.**

Chapter 2

"Haven't heard _that _one before," Jack smirked sarcastically upon recovering from the shock of her bluntness and almost being impaled by a card. "I'm pretty sure the mini-fairies have a fan club for me; they meet on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tooth wouldn't give me the details, though."

"Do they have a fan club for us?" North asked outside, leaning into Tooth.

"No."

"But... but why not?"

"Guess."

"Maybe they're somehow getting your tissues and performing a fairy ritual to make you love them," Lucky suggested. Jack just now noticed how purple her eyes were, like two amethysts set in between black and white.

"That'd worry me if they had a way to get stuff like that," he replied, leaning casually up against his staff.

"You hang out with the Tooth Fairy, right?"

"Yeah, but she wouldn't... do that..." Outside, Sandy, North, and Bunnymund glanced at Tooth, who was ruffling her feathers guiltily.

"But what brings a hot-shot Guardian like yourself to my little cave of shattered dreams?" Lucky asked, backing away and cocking her head. Upon looking at them again, her eyes were a normal shade of brown and, concluding that he must've simply imagined the purple, Jack answered her question.

"The Man in the Moon chose a new Guardian."

"Well isn't that ducky(1)." Jack cocked his brow; whether that was from not understanding the word or wondering if she'd caught on yet, we'll never know. "Wait, it's me?" Jack nodded slowly, flipping his staff around and causing frost to creep up the potted plant next to him. "But... why?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Jack replied, nearly jumping at the sight of her eyes again. They were orange, two ambers. _Chill _**(A/N: No pun intended) **he told himself. _Your skin is paler than a vampire's. We spirits have some weird things going on._

"Is Pitch back?" Lucky asked, beginning to pace. "I mean, I thought you defeated him not long ago."

"So did we," Jack explained, frying the circuitry for a slot machine and causing its user to freak out. A bit to his surprise, Lucky giggled. "He didn't tell us why. The floor just opened and there was a little statue of you."

"Is it still there?" she asked, eyes gray, glistening like silver.

"I'm not sure, why?"

"They never get my nose right," she explained, rubbing her chin. Jack, who had never been pitted with a personality like this one and wasn't quite sure what to make of it, simply laughed.

"Well, the other Guardians told me to get you to the North Pole," he explained. "They're around here somewhere, though. In fact..." Putting a finger to his lips, the Winter spirit stealthily flew over to the window. With a snicker from him and a look of curiosity from her (her eyes were emeralds now), he shot a burst of magic out the window and spun around to view his handiwork.

"I don't see them," Lucky said upon looking outside.

"See that ice sculpture?"

"Yeah."

"That's them."

"... Oh. Did you mean to do that?"

"Not at all," Jack replied, sheepishly backing away.

"Well... whoops."

"Yeah. And there goes our ride, too." Jack began to float lazily through the air, examining the various machines and tables. "So you really spend all your time here?"

"This is my Thursday casino," Lucky explained, following him from the ground. "I have a new one for every day of the week. At least they're interesting; there's always new tourists to swindle, and millionaires to gamble away small fortunes and make them back the next day, the occasional fist-fight between a dealer and a player. Those are fun, but I usually side with the dealer." Lucky grinned and winked at him. "Whoever I side with typically wins."

"That's good to know," Jack said, floating back to the ground and looking over a man's shoulder at his cards. "He should put down the 3."

"And why do you say that?" Lucky asked, somewhat condescendingly. Jack jumped at Lucky's sudden appearance beside him, and he wondered if that was one of her powers or if she was just fast.

"Um... because three's the magic number?"

"You'd get eaten alive here, Frosty. No, he shouldn't. This is 21, and he's got a Queen and an Ace, which means he'll automatically win if he puts them down." Sure enough, the man set the cards down triumphantly and began to take the chips from the middle. "I like him. He can win more." Much to Jack's surprise, the bestowing of good luck was much less melodramatic than that of bad luck. She merely tapped him on his shoulder, and what looked like some sort of golden liquid began to seep down from the spot before disappearing.

"Is that how you always do it?" Jack asked.

"No," Lucky replied. Then, much to his surprise, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. Jack stepped back, swiping at his cheek and rubbing the golden substance that had come off on his pants.

"Well why'd you do that?" she questioned, irritated.

"Because you kissed me?" Jack snickered as he balanced on his staff. "Gee Lucky, don't you think we should have dinner first?"

"I've never been known to wait," Lucky replied, accidentally leaning against a guy at a slot machine and causing the golden liquid to burst from him. The machine practically exploded as it spit out money, and the lucky man literally jumped around in joy. Lucky shrugged at her handiwork before turning back to Jack. Her eyes were rubies, but they didn't stand out as much as some of the other times. "Besides, you just purposefully wiped away liquid luck. Do you _never _want to do that one attack with... the ice, and... that staff?"

"I haven't really tried a new attack in awhile," Jack admitted.

"Then you need to be more adventurous. Anyway, that's what gives people luck; it drips onto them and soaks into the skin. Kind of like lotion, except it doesn't smell funny and and you don't have to spend forever rubbing it in."

"Does it make your skin softer, too?" Jack joked, leaning against his staff.

"It does!" she said excitedly. Her irises glowed gold. "Here, feel it." She closed her eyes and leaned forward, close enough for Jack to touch her face. He was shocked for a minute, but then realized that it wasn't very surprising. The staff exchanged hands, and Jack reached forward to touch her. His fingers were just about to graze her cheek when all the lights in the casino flickered and blinked out, and the sound died away for a moment before the whole building erupted into chaos.

"What's that?" Lucky asked, jerking backwards and looking around. Jack's hand lingered for a moment before grasping his staff again.

"Come on," he told her as people began to file out of the lobby. "We need to check on the Guardians."

"Is this Pitch?!" Lucky asked frantically. "This didn't happen when he came last time."

"I don't know, but-" Jack spun around to face her, his face scrunched up. "What do you mean, last time?"

"Nightmares came to Vegas last time Pitch attacked," Lucky replied. She reached into her shawl and pulled out a deck of cards, all of which glowed slightly. "I got 'em with these. Playing cards steeped in liquid luck. They can pierce through anything I want them too."

"That is so cool."

"I know right?"

"But we need to get to the Guardians!" Jack exclaimed, walking through the crowds running out the door. "If it _is_ Pitch, they're vulnerable right now!" The Guardians had chosen the darkest, most isolated place to watch Jack and Lucky's interaction, and no one had stumbled upon them as of yet. Nightmares were already surrounding them, whinnying with excitement at their enemy's vulnerability. Jack swung his staff around, freezing a few, and Lucky threw a couple of her cards, which shattered them. The Nightmares reared up on the two, snorting out their shimmering black sand only to have it be sucked back into their being.

They charged, but Jack was ready and flew above them, freezing all who had the misfortune to pass under his staff. Lucky was shuffling the cards like any professional dealer, a skill she had long since acquired, and dealt them upon the frozen horses, shattering them. The only Nightmares left were the ones that were preparing to attack the mound of ice, but Jack and Lucky were on them in seconds, and they soon met the same fate as all their sandy companions.

"That wasn't so hard," Lucky said as she collected any cards she could find.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, picking a piece of frozen black sand and examining it. "They were harder when Pitch was around."

"So Pitch isn't around anymore," Lucky concluded, her voice more hopeful than confident.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, laughing nervously. "These are just leftover from the last battle."

"Yeah." The pair surveyed the ground beneath them, which was littered with chunks of sandy ice. Jack smashed them with his staff as Lucky let the liquid luck seep from her fingers and onto the cards, recharging them. The Winter spirit floated over to the chunk of ice that housed the Guardians, and jammed his staff into it as hard as he could. It scraped the surface, but nothing more.

"Let me." Jack looked down as Lucky approached the sculpture. She lay her hand upon the cold ice, and spreading her fingers out. Liquid luck began a hasty journey from the grooves of her fingerprints to the ice, and it seeped inside and formed twisting, golden veins. The gold shimmered, and the shimmering was reflected through the ice, casting frosty light across the area. As the veins reached the Guardians, the ice began to crack, until all four were free and the ice began to melt, mingling with the luck.

"Jack," North growled. All the Guardians looked at Jack disapprovingly, and he flew out of their reach.

"Hey!" he greeted innocently, scratching the back of his head. "I've got Lucky here, and she's ready to come to the Pole, right?"

"Sure," she replied. In the beckground, the lights of the casino began to flicker back on. The slot machines played their hopeful tunes, and gamblers began murmuring again.

"Let's go 'fore this becomes a disaster area," Bunnymund said, tapping the ground and jumping into the hole. Sandy, North, Tooth, and Bunny jumped down, leaving only Jack and Lucky.

"Ladies first," he told her, motioning to the hole with his staff. The grass around it began to frost over. She leaned over the hole, in awe of its never-ending darkness.

"How very chivalrous of you," she murmured before jumping down. With a bit of hesitation, Jack followed, still wishing they could've taken the sleigh.

**Author's Note: 1- good **

***outside the casino*  
Bunnymund: 'ey, Tooth, where'd ya get that camera?  
Tooth: The mini-fairies brought it.  
North: But why are you taping Jack and Lucky?  
Tooth: I'm gonna Movie Maker this and add in voiceovers so they say...  
Bunnymund: Say what, mate?  
Tooth: Um... That she's honored to be a member of the Guardians? *Bunny and North nod approvingly while Sandy gets an irritated, knowing expression***

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 3

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Wanna know something funny? I'll be PMing AquaWolfGirl, and I'll send her one, then I'll get an email two seconds later and be like "Oh, she messaged me back. That was quick." But in reality, it's people following RIGHT AFTER I send a PM. Aren't ya'll convenient?**

***sniffle* The day's finally come, guys. The day when there are too many reviews for me to respond to each personally. I always knew this day would come *turns dramatically*... Anyway, thank you to my lovely reviewers AquaWolfGirl, BlueAsh666 (MATHEMATICAL!), Motaku1235, Sky of Flames, crisis what crisis, and hidansgirl1234! **

**WAIT OVER 800 FANFICTIONS FOR THIS MOVIE WHAT.**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T WANNA DO THIS GUYS.**

Chapter 3

"Horsefeathers(1), that was... was..." Lucky stopped in the middle of her sentence, trying to drink in everything around her.

"I was the same way when I first came," Jack chuckled, flying past her. They were in the workshop, of course, the place that could leave the most skeptical and serious of men speechless. Lucky stepped back and almost fell, but Bunnymund caught and righted her.

"Watch it, mate. The elves cover more of the floor than the carpet does."

"This place..." Once again, Lucky was left speechless, but she began to jump excitedly in seconds, clapping her hands and smiling from ear to ear. Her eyes glittered gold again. "It's the cat's meow(2)! I've never been someplace so swanky(3)!"

"Is that good or bad?" North asked, leaning into Tooth.

"I have ansolutely no idea."

"I think she likes it," Bunny added as she spun around the room, her face glowing at the high ceiling. "Can't tell, though."

"Speak English!" Jack called to her.

"It's great!"

"See? She likes it." Lucky began backing up again, and found herself coming in contact with something big and fuzzy. She turned slowly and screamed, jumping back in surprise.

"Hey Paul," Jack greeted as he flew up next to her. Looking at Lucky, he continued: "Don't try to break in; it annoys him." Paul growled at the Winter spirit.

"Hello there," Lucky laughed, ashamed she'd been scared at all. "You're quite the bimbo, aren't you?" Everyone around her gasped. "What? Oh, right, everything's perverted in this century. I'm saying he's big and tough and... stuff." Paul glowed with pride and lumbered away, probably to paint the toys the wrong color again.

"Well, I am glad you like it here, my friend!" North bellowed as he approached her.

"It's great, like I said!" she laughed, her golden eyes crinkling in enjoyment. Suddenly, they took their amber hue as her smile disappeared. "But _why _am I here? Jack says I'm a Guardian."

"You _are_!" Tooth exclaimed, fluttering up and hugging her. "Isn't that exciting?" All the Guardians could tell that Tooth was more excited than Lucky was, but she was enjoying herself.

"I mean, I guess, but why do you need me?" Thus, the awkwardness commenced.

"Well, you see, Manny leaves many things out when he talks to us-"

"He didn't tell us why," Jack finished. "Didn't I tell you that already?"

"Yeah, but..." Her eyes stood out more than ever, till the amber consumed most of her whites. "I just... I don't understand."

"Join the club," Bunnymund smirked, examining his boomerang.

"Can we ask the Man in the Moon?" Lucky asked.

"One does not simply 'ask' the Man in the Moon," Jack snickered, a picture of a shaking finger appearing above Sandy's head.

"Well then what are we supposed to do?" Lucky asked, crossing her arms.

"I do not know," North admitted, his shoulders slumping. "There are many things that could bring trouble upon us, but we do not know what it is this time." He seemed to perk up, not wanting her worried. "But let us not think about that right now! It is getting late, and you are all welcome to stay here tonight.

"I- lateral incisor at 87 Latterman Lane, Wisconsin- can't, I'm busy," Tooth apologized before turning back to her fairies. Sandy made a motion that indicated he needed to leave to disperse his dreams, which was exactly what he did afterwards.

"If they're leavin', I'm not stickin' around," Bunnymund stated before jumping down a hole that led to the Warren. Thus, Jack, North, and Lucky were left alone. With a hundred other yetis and elves, of course.

"Well... do you want to stay?"

"I'd love to," she confessed, smiling.

"I'll stay here, too," Jack said, grinning at Lucky. "Don't want you destroying the workshop on your first night here."

"Like you did?" North questioned, unamused.

"Hey, nobody told me not to give the elves coffee!"

"I assumed you knew that it was a very bad idea!"

"Well, you should've known by then that I assume _nothing_."

"Wow..." Both turned at Lucky's gasp. She was staring at a train track that covered an entire portion of the workshop, the surroundings as well as the train itself made in exquisite detail. There was a whole little town next to Lucky, with a water tower and a clock tower and a large Town Hall in the center. There were little figurines strolling through the streets, and the spirit of Luck nearly jumped when they waved to her. Nonetheless, she giggled and waved back. She turned back around, suddenly looking tired.

"I've never been very sleepy since I became a spirit," she murmured, swiping at her eyes.

"Then it only makes since that you are now," North exclaimed. "Come, my dear, I have the most comfortable beds you can find." North led her out of the workshop, and she was grateful for the feathery bed he devoted to her, for she hadn't slept in 70 years.

Jack, however, stayed in the workshop. His own icy tundra of a home grew quite lonely, especially on important, confusing nights such as this one. When North came back, he'd ask if he could have a room, too. And if that meant the cupboard again... well, at least then he could smuggle some cookies.

Meanwhile, he trotted over to the train set that Lucky had been so entranced by earlier, twirling his staff and consequently causing quite a few yetis to slip on newly formed ice and crash into each other. He muttered an awkward apology before rushing to the monolithic toy, making sure to "oh" and "ah" more than he had initially thought in an attempt to make it up to them. It was truly impressive, though. The trees (for the part he had approached was a forest) were carved in exquisite detail, with every leaf personally painted and placed. Miniscule birds were suspended in mid-air, only magic to hold them up, no wires or platforms. Deer and squirrels and butterflies were also suspended in time, as if a tranquil forest had been frozen, shrunk, and placed in the train set.

But then it came alive, and Jack dodged out of the way before a bird darted straight into his eye. A blue and purple butterfly daintily landed on a fawn's outstretched nose, and a squirrel lost the armful of nuts that it was trying to stuff in a knothole. Jack couldn't help but laugh at the scene, at the little ecosystem that was quite literally coming alive in front of his eyes.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Jack jumped at North's stentorian voice suddenly behind him. The Guardian of Wonder kneeled down and he delicately lifted a baby bird back into its nest. "It is my best creation. My attempt to put all the wonder that I see in the world into one little village, one little forest, one little train track. Do you believe I succeeded, Jack?" The Winter Spirit had moved on to a marine setting, and he jumped again as a dolphin jumped out of the water in a graceful arc.

"Definitely..."

"I disagree. There is always more wonder, from someone. Take Lucky, for example. She come here and is amazed at what she sees around her, not unlike you when you first came. And as long as there is more for me to see, I will keep building." Suddenly, North's wise, philosophical personality was gone and he was back to his normal, excited self. "I was thinking a mountain range in the middle, with snowstorms and eveything! That would be neat, no?"

"Yeah, I guess." North turned suspiciously and saw that Jack, too was tired. His monstorous beard shifted a bit to reveal a smile.

"You to bed too, Jack. You can have a room. You do not have to sleep in the cupboard."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow, North."

"Good night, my friend." Jack almost twirled his staff again as he headed towards the rooms, but he stopped himself when he heard the thunderous protests of at least a dozen yetis behind him. So he merely whistled as he made his way down the hallways, eventually floating from the lack of effort. But he found himself stopping, almost as if there'd been a wall, in front of a window. Moonlight sifted through the dust and snow, and little bits of its silvery light grazed him through the transparent glass.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Jack asked the Man in the Moon. But all he saw was specks of what looked like black snow blow gently across the Moon's spectral shape, and Jack convinced himself that that was exactly what it was, black snow, before his mind could come up with other options.

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter's so short :P I really wanted to update and I need to work on the plot a little bit. There's going to be quite a bit of OC introducing later on, and the plot will come in after all the tedious introductions are out of the way. Well, I don't plan on them being tedious. On the contrary, they should be entertaining ;)**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**Author's Note: 1- an expletive 2- wonderful, the absolute best 3- elegant, ritzy **


	5. Chapter 4

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: 52 followers and 32 favorites... You guys are the best :) Besides my other Pokemon story that had, like, 60 followers (by the end of the 35 chapter story), this is the most I've ever gotten :) Tell me if you want me to do something special for all of you, 'cause you're awesome and stuffs. Just don't ask me to draw. Unless you want stick figures. I can't draw XD**

**And the first OC gets introduced this chapter! :D There'll be quite a few.**

**Thank you very much to AquaWolfGirl, animalperson45 (I'll think about doing something like that, if they're telling stories or something), Katerina Dimitrov, Motaku1235 (go onward, my friend, and make thy meme!), Xari, and Anime Girl, avalonchick5 (*pokes head shyly out of bunker* Are the haters gone?), and Dragoneisha for reviewing! Ya'll make my day :)**

**You guessed it. I'm plugging again. Katerina's Dimitrov's The Girl With The Violet Eyes; it's interesting and cute and wonderful and I don't normally ship JackxMortal, but... This is just great :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians.**

Chapter 4

Jack was awakened by sunlight filtering through the frosty glass in his bedroom, and groggily realized that this was the first time he'd slept in 300 years. He swiped at the beams piercing the transparent glass, mentally asking the Man in the Moon to come back and let the darkness consume him again. Well, after meeting Pitch, he didn't really want darkness of any form to consume him, but you know what he meant.

Jack flipped over, his back to the window, but all the sunbeams seemed to be concentrated on his blinking face. Grumbling, he kicked the covers off and snatched his staff, rubbing his eyes. Tiredness was new to him, and he wasn't sure how much he liked it. He swung his staff over his shoulder and whistled, kicking outwards as he walked. The elves, who were, as usual, doing nothing, dodged his bare feet, except for a few that seemed fascinated by the calluses and ended up seeing them up close. To this, Jack mumbled an apology and scurried forward, finally opening the door to the workshop.

The Winter spirit's eyes widened at the disturbing sight before him. All the other Guardians had arrived, and they were all looking, wide-eyed, at Bunnymund. He was holding a shiny black revolver to his temple, looking ahead, determined.

"Stop!" Jack shouted, flying and hastily wrestling the gun away. "I'm sorry about the blizzards and the times I froze over the Warren and that time I convinced all the eggs that you were playing Hide and Seek with them, just don't do it!" Bunny's eyes widened, then narrowed with rage.

"_You _were the one that 'id my eggs?! You bloody-" Sandy jumped in between them, chiming urgently. Bunny backed off, still eyeing him angrily.

"Give me that!" Lucky snatched the gun from Jack, irritated, her eyes the light red he'd seen before. Upon closer inspection, he saw the gun glowed slightly. "We're playing Russian Roulette. They asked me to demonstrate my luck." And before anyone could say anything, she swung the revolver to her head and pulled the trigger. Everyone jumped slightly, but nothing came out. Lucky looked inside the chamber- the bullet had gotten stuck.

"Luckiest woman alive, at your service," she said with a bow.

"So if we took a bath in that, would we be invincible?" Tooth asked curiously.

"Not entirely," Lucky answered, carefully putting the revolver on a table and scooting it away from some meddlesome elves. "Just like in life, luck can get you only so far." Lucky laughed and walked towards the train set again. "Why, I might've even gotten shot right then!" Everyone looked at her, astonished that she'd take that chance. Lucky, on the other hand, was following the train on its swift circuit around the track, as enchanted by it as she was last night.

"Well on that note, what're we doing today?" Jack asked, smiling but the shock still showing.

"Second premolar at 4556 Lapper Park, Charleston, South Carolina," Tooth instructed one of her fairies. Turning to them, she added: "Little busy. Sorry."

"I know what we can do!" Jack exclaimed suddenly. Lucky turned to him with a reluctant jerk.

"What's th-" She was interrupted by Jack yanking her towards him by hooking her waist with his staff. "Whoa!"

"Let's go to Burgess!" he said cheerfully, dragging her along. All the other Guardians sighed knowingly.

"No surprise there," Bunnymund muttered, inspecting his boomerang, just as he did with every moment he wasn't doing anything else.

"And what is this Burgess of which you speak?"

"It's the town where Jamie lives," Tooth exclaimed quickly before turning back to her fairies.

"And who is this Jamie of which you speak?" she prodded, her eyes narrowing as she almost twisted her ankle trying to keep up with Jack and his fish-hook staff.

"He was the first person to believe in me," Jack chirped. "He believes in everyone. He'll probably be able to see you right away." Lucky managed to twist out of the staff's hook and smirked as she followed Jack out of the workshop.

"You're cute," she cooed, more condescending than flirtatious. "No one believes in me."

"Jamie will. I think he finds spirits to believe in for fun." Jack forced open a door that led outside, and Lucky had to hold her skirt down from the sudden gusts of freezing wind. Jack whistled as he stepped, barefoot, into the packed snow, and he turned to her expectantly.

"Okay, I know you're the personification of ice and all, but that's ridiculous." She took a step out into the cold and shivered. She didn't necessarily feel the full impact of the cold- probably had something to do with the immortal spirit in her- but she still wanted to go back inside. "How are we going to get to Burgess, the land of the believers?"

"You're gonna need to get closer," he replied, motioning towards himself. Lucky grinned and her eyes glittered purple beneath her hair.

"Don't be so quick to get dirty with me." She took a timid step forward. "Quick question, though: what are you gonna do?"

"You're too slow." Jack hooked with his staff again, this time dragging her to his chest. "Hold this." He thrust the staff into the little space that was between them, and she took it cautiously. Then he scooped her up, bridal style, and flew into the air.

"Applesauce(1)!" she squeaked as the ground shrunk beneath her.

"I still don't know what you're saying!" Jack laughed as they rose higher. Frankly, he was surprised he could speak at all, because Lucky's arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. A wind current swept them away and the ground far, far below became blurry. "We'll be there soon, though." Lucky relaxed and yelled (for the wind was stinging their ears):

"If I fall and become the first spirit to die, I blame you!" Jack winced but replied:

"You wouldn't be the first, but don't worry. I'll catch you." The ocean was rapidly giving way to land, and the wind was pushing them so quickly that it looked like nothing more than white, green, and brown blurs.

"Where are we now?" she prodded, mercifully loosening her grip on Jack's neck.

"Canada," he replied. "We'll be in America in a minute." Suddenly, out of nowhere, something squirted the pilot in the face. He yelped as he landed on the ground underneath them, which was carpeted in yellowish-green grass. He set Lucky down as he swiped at his face, and she reached down when she saw something fall.

"A flower?" Jack froze, one hand covering an eye and one not. He snatched the flower and examined it. Upon closer inspection, it seemed rather deflated.

"Is that the best you can do, you Whoopie-cushion-obsessed freak?" he yelled, his smile broadening and his eyes glittering. "I'm disappointed!" A stream of water trickled onto his head before coming down in a torrent, a silver bucket toppling over his white hair.

"I was just trying to spare the rookie, you glorified snowman!" Jack ripped the bucket off his head and threw it in the direction of the voice. Lucky followed it with her eyes and gasped as the silhouette of a boy ducked in midair and the bucket caught on a nearby tree branch. Laughing hysterically, the boy floated down to the ground, and she noticed a pair of black Converse with wings attached. The wings disappeared when he hit the ground, and he and Jack all but ran into each other's arms.

"Jester!"

"Frosty!"

"Lucky," she cooed, scooting closer.

"Oh, right!" Jack backed up, dramtically gesturing to Jester. "The king of pranks, the personification of laughter, I present to you, the April Fool! Or Jester. That's what I call him."

"So very nice to meet you," he said in a rather deep voice, sweeping into a bow and kissing Lucky's hand.

"Don't stand to close to him," Jack whispered loudly so Jester could hear. "He's a pervert."

"You're just jealous 'cause I'm more attractive," Jester grinned.

"Ha! You wish!" Lucky, being the flirt she was, sized him up nonetheless. His hair was black and scruffy, and a mini purple and gold jester hat was nestled in the intertwining strands, jingling when he moved his head. He had a purple t-shirt and black skinny jeans with gold chains and a black half-jacket that shielded him from the cold that was Jack. But the most striking thing was his face, or its substitute. A purple and gold mask covered the entire left side of his face and stopped near the right edge of his mouth, leaving a portion of the that side visible. The lavender eye and the orchid mouth matched his actual face exactly, and moved with it, making it look more like face-painting and less like a mask.

"I dunno, Jack," she teased. "You might have competition at the next Spirit Boys Swim-Wear Competition."

"Me in swim-wear?" he joked. "All the girls would swoon. I think some of the mini fairies would spontaneously combust."

"Are you kidding?" Jester laughed. Unsurprisingly, it was something he was almost constantly doing. "I'd blind the ladies with this bod!"

"We shouldn't encourage her," Jack smirked, nodding in Lucky's direction.

"He's right. You shouldn't." Lucky cocked her head as a new thought occured to her. "Wait, so how many other spirits are there besides you and the Guardians?"

"Oh, lots," Jester replied, pulling peanuts out of thin air and throwing them into the air, catching them with his mouth. "Lady Luck, right? You're fairly new. I didn't meet Frosty here until I was at _least _a hundred."

"And we've been best friends ever since," Jack said proudly. "Hey, remember that one really intense prank war we got into?"

"Oh yeah! I totally won that."

"You wish!" Both suddenly turned to Lucky, who was still engrossed in this new idea. "Hey Lucky, which is a better prank, global warming or the Dust Bowl?"

"Dust Bowl," she replied mindlessly, resulting in Jack gloating to Jester, his friend waving it away. "But seriously, who else is there?"

"Seriously, there's lots of people," Jack explained. "North could probably tell you more, if you wanna go back to the North Pole."

"What about that place you wanted to go?" she prodded.

"Later. Let's go!"

"Can I come?" Jester asked, his shoes sprouting wings again. "I've been dying to get into that workshop for, like, 300 years!"

"Join the club!" Jack shouted as he scooped Lucky up. "Yeah, you can come. Paul let's me through now."

"Oh Paul. Hard as steel, but a good yeti, that's for sure."

"Definitely. Now try to keep up!"

"Challenging me to a race now, are we?"

"There's no need for races!" Lucky stated hastily as she almost slipped out of a distracted Jack's arms. He caught her just in time.

**Author's Note: 1- another expletive**

**Thanks to LunaMoonlight100 for the April Fool idea! :) You've always got good ideas. And thanks to AquaWolfGirl for coming up with his clothes when I didn't want to XD**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 5

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Ha ha, haters! You are no match for me, now that I have my wonderful reviewers by my side! *haters start shooting fire arrows at me* OH CRAP HUMAN SHIELD *use all of you to cover me* **

**Just kidding, I love ya'll :) Thank you to AquaWolfGirl, Chuu112, kittykat2892 (*blushes* this one was so nice! And grammatically correct!), Fabula (HEY IT'S FABULA GUYS. THIS IS MEH BEST FRAND.), Anime Girl (:D Just 'cause you're great), Motaku1235 (BROOOOOOOOMANCE, NOTHING REALLY GAY ABOUT IT), Dragoneisha, BlueAsh666 (RHOMBUS! And thanks to that, you're at the front of the human shield ;) ), Hanna (while that would be interesting, it isn't possible. Liquid luck is to Lucky what blood is to us; it's constantly being made and it's next to impossible to drain her of it, and definitely impossible to run out of. Her attacks can miss, though, because [like she's said before] luck doesn't work every time [or something to that effect]), Katerina Dimitrov (YOU'RE WELCOME YOU'RE WELCOME YOU'RE WELCOME times 1000000000! You deserve all of it, and I'm glad you were so happy!... Now update, dang it), Mystery Girl Who Writes (nyeh, PRESSURE!), and skylaeatpie (someone's dreaming about my story, guys. I think that's what qualifies someone as a pro.) for reviewing! :D**

**Disclaimer: MEH. Why do I continue doing these?**

Chapter 5

"Hey, I wasn't _meaning _to melt the North Pole," Jester insisted as they headed in that very direction. Jack was flying with Lucky again, but she was piggy-back riding this time after almost being dropped. "It just kinda... ended up like that. Yo Jack, you weren't trying to destroy central America, were you?"

"Uh... no. No."

"See?" Jester grinned. "Besides, you're not the first one who has given me crap about it. North flashed his swords a couple times when he found out his home was melting, and oh man, Daisy was _pissed off_."

"But the polar bears!" Lucky persisted. "Who's Daisy?"

"I don't think I've met Daisy before," Jack mused as the workshop came into view.

"If you're uncertain, you haven't met her!" Jester laughed, flying ahead. Jack accepted the challenge and surged forward, Lucky gripping him as the two all but slammed into the door as they flew towards the entrance, the guarding yeti had to jump out of the way.

"Sorry!" Jack stuttered. Lucky, who had been flung from his back, smacked him upside the head, irritated. The yeti was about to open the door, but he froze when he saw Jester.

"Hey, George, wassup?" The guard's eyes narrowed.

"He's with us," Jack stated. This didn't seem to waver the yeti's desire to let him in at all.

"Pleeease?" Lucky pleaded, batting her eyes. That'll do it.

Jester, Jack, and Lucky wandered the halls, still not quite sure how to make their way around. At one point, they tried talking to the yetis, but they didn't exactly speak English and therefore weren't of much help. The elves proved to be even more ineffective, speaking only gibberish and doing so very fast. After walking through a kitchen, a lounge, a bar (they left quickly upon seeing the dizzy yetis), and a couple rooms that they didn't even try to indentify, the large mahogany door towered above them, and the three entered the workshop.

While the yetis busily prepared toys for the chaos ahead of them (it was mid-November at this time of year), North hunched over his train set, delicately shaping sand dunes in a desert ecosystem. A coyote snapped at his finger, and the large man shooed it away with his meaty hand. The women in Las Vegas-esque town sighed wistfully, and North turned towards the door, knowing what that meant.

"Welcome back, Jack. Lucky, my dear." His eyes settled on Jester, but it took a moment for his presence to register. "NO. Get out, you _obmanshchik_(1)!"

"I don't know what that means, but I have a feeling that you're insulting me," Jester stated, completely serious. This, of course, didn't last but a moment. "Well, it's cool! I forgive you!"

"But I do not!" North bellowed, lumbering towards them. "Going into almost every house after me and replacing the gifts with hollow replicas! Shameful! I had to go back and redo all the things that night!"

"Not cool," Lucky murmured, crossing her arms.

"I'd been alive for 200 years, and that was the first time you acknowledged me. At all." Everyone fell silent. There was no laughter, not even an echo, in Jester's voice.

"What do you want?"

"Lucky wanted to see some of the other spirits," Jack replied brightly, lightening the tension.

"I am sorry, Lucky, I am too busy," North replied.

"Aw, c'mon!" Jack begged. "You're, like, the father figure here!"

"I would happily be the father for each of you, but like I said, I am very busy."

"You'd be my father?" Jester smirked, but Lucky and Jack detected some genuine excitement underneath.

"You would be my problem child."

"Well that escalated quickly," Lucky interrupted. "And you don't look busy, you're just tinkering with your train set."

"I say I am busy and therefore I am busy!" An annoyed chiming interrupted all conversation and everyone spun around to see Sandy, silently wondering how long he'd been beckoning them. A picture of Sandy and the three of them jumping through a portal appeared over his head.

"Yes, let Sandy take you," North mumbled, irritated because one of the dunes was crushed during the conversation.

"Hey Sandman!" Jester greeted, sauntering up to him. "Long time no see!"

"Does _he_ harbor any grudges against you?" Lucky giggled as she joined him.

"Sandy? Oh, no. This guy's cool. We're buds." Jester knelt down a little bit and Sandy fist-bumped him, his already golden face brightening.

"Here." Without taking his eyes off the train set, North reached into his pocket and threw the snowglobe to his friend. As the Guardian of Dreams prepared to throw it on the ground, Jack pondered:

"Will it still work even if he can't speak?" Only after Sandy actually broke it did he get worried. However, by that time Sandy, Lucky, Jester, and him were being sucked into the portal and found themselves tumbling onto a soft, woven carpet.

"Who's this?" Lucky whispered to Sandy. A picture of a family portrait appeared above his head, an arrow pointing to the tallest man painted. "Father..."

"Father Time!" Jester yelled, interrupting the silent atmosphere. Sandy gave him a thumbs-up.

Father Time's lair wasn't unfamiliar. The color scheme was composed of burgundies and mahogany browns, all of which were complimented by the raging fire in the monolithic fire place, which cast shadows all along the bookcased walls. There were no windows, there were no doors. Two matching chairs faced the fireplace, both bright red with fancy trims and stiff cushions, but only one was occupied. But the most prominent thing was the grandfather clock, taking up an entire corner of the room. It was made of glossy, light brown wood, stretching from floor to ceiling like a tower, and the face was as big as the base of the snowman that Jack built with Jamie and his friends. You know, the massive one. When Father Time heard his name, he looked over the side and smiled.

"I wasn't expecting visitors," he said warmly before getting up and helping Lucky to her feet (like a true gentleman.) He wasn't what they were expecting. Well, Jack at least, who was expecting the "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" wizard from that one movie Jamie showed him. He wasn't even all that old; his hair looked soft and appeared as if it had color in it, even though it was only gray. His face had wrinkles only around the eyes and the mouth, which certainly must've come from a million other smiles like he was giving them now. "Hello, Sandy! It's been awhile." Sandy waved enthusiastically, excited bell noises ringing throughout the room.

"This place is cool," Jester complimented, walking up to the fire. "I'm Jester, by the way. The April Fool himself."

"Very nice to meet you," Father Time said, warmly shaking his hand. No matter what it was, the spirit of Time was always warm. "I am Father Time, but you can call me Pops."

"Hi!" Jack greeted, floating up to him. "Jack Frost!"

"Lady Luck," Lucky added, also eager to introduce herself.

"Why haven't we been here before?" Jack questioned, flying to the ceiling and touching the face of the clock.

"This room is adrift in time itself," Pops explained. **(A/N: In other words, it's the TARDIS.)** "It's impossible to get to unless you teleport, like you did." He turned to Sandy and smiled before continuing. "Now I suppose you're here for my famous stories?"

"Stories?" Jack asked. Lucky and Jester were already sitting around the chair, and Sandy floated towards them.

"But of course!" he laughed. It was deep and fraternal. "You don't control time and not have any stories to tell!" Jack was sitting cross-legged with the others before the sentence was even finished.

So Father Time lowered himself into his chair- there was a dent from sitting in it so long- and spun his tales of time. He told them of the time when the Man in the Moon taught him how to make day into night, and explained the physics of it in a way that excited even the teenagers. There were stories of wars and accomplishments that were his own, though he always gave the credit to a mortal, the only person knowing the truth being the occasional child open-minded enough to believe in him. There were so many stories, stories that were told by Pops as easily as he breathed, that they had come at nine that morning and the clock had rung fourteen times. The ring itself was beautiful, a chiming sound that resonated throughout the entire room but seemed to quiet for the stories. But the final ring, the 24th that day, was tinny and loud, making everyone cover their eyes. Pops cursed and went over to it.

"How does it do this?" he asked himself as he opened the door and grabbed a brass key. "Why, I fixed it just this morning. You'd think it'd still make the same sound if all it needed was a bit of winding." Lucky felt a tugging on her sleeve and turned her head, surprised to see a concerned-looking Sandy holding the snowglobe. Hadn't it broken?

"We're leaving already?" she asked, even though she was aware of how long they'd been there. Sandy nodded urgently. "But w-" He cut her off, breaking the snow globe and creating their way home. Jack and Jester glared, getting the idea.

"Are you leaving?" Pops asked, the key hovering over its hole. "Lovely meeting all of you. I hope to see you again!"

"Bye Pops!"

"See ya, Pops!" The moment the key was inserted into the clock was the moment that the portal sucked them all in and spit them out in North's workshop. It was North Pole dark outside (in other words, an inky black that you'd never walk in unless you had a death wish), and North was working on his train set in candlelight.

"Who did you go to see, my friends?" he asked, spinning around.

"Father Time!" Jack answered excitedly. "He's super cool, can we see him again soon?" North glanced at Sandy, who shook his head.

"There is something that you need to know about Father Time," he said, somewhat sadly.

"What is it?" Jester asked, kicking the edge of a skateboard and putting it back on a shelf.

"He is an... how do you say it... anorexic?" Sandy shook his head fervently. A picture of Pops was displayed over his head, but with a question mark appearing over the effigy's head.

"An amnesiac!" Lucky corrected.

"Yes! That! Anyway, his mind resets as the day does. His grandfather clock is his mind, and it's re-wound everyday." Jester, Jack, and Lucky gaped at North, not believing what they were hearing.

"So..." Jester began.

"The stories...?" the other two finished.

"Memories that have been imbedded in his memory after telling them so many times. He will remember meeting you, but that is all." The three spirits looked at each other, not wanting to believe that all of their new hero's tales were, even if he didn't realize it, lies.

"Um... can I sleep here again?" Jack asked, suddenly tired.

"Me too?"

"I haven't slept in a couple centuries," Jester added. "It sounds nice."

"Fine, but you and Jack have to share room."

"Is that so?" Lucky giggled, cocking her brow. "Well, in that case, you two have fun!" Jack and Jester looked at each other, weighing their reactions.

"I'm cool if you're cool," Jack said.

"I'm cool, you cool?"

"I just said that I was cool if you were!"

"You are both cool!" North boomed. "Now sleep!" As the two made their way down the rooms, they grinned and thought the same thing: _North said we're cool._

**Author's Note: 1- "trickster" in Russian (hopefully; please be right, Google Translate!)**

**Sorry it's kinda short. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: So this is pretty good. Exams are done (I'm a genius ya'll :}), Christmas is here, my hair looks awesome, and I've discovered the long-coveted way to make your readers freak out! (Make a Doctor Who joke. Did you not even see my Lord of the Rings reference?)**

**... I'm so tired, yo (you're getting to me, Ash.) I'm so glad it's break.**

**Thank you to kittykat2892 (just... you... you squeal? GAHHH you know how to make me feel good), Mystery Girl Who Writes, DreamWalker18 (that's good, 'cause there's lots of OCs. Also, TARDIS recognition #1), Luna (hey! I was wondering when you'd start reading it!), BlueAsh666 (yaoi fangirl coming at you from the left! *you knock her out with your awesome armor stuffs* Yeah, that's my favorite quote too :) TARDIS recognition #2), beautifulsoul9786 (TARDIS recognition #3), skylaeatpie (I impatiently and possibly patiently wait for your next review!), Anime Girl (yeah, I like short chapters better anyway), Dragoneisha (QUICK SOMEONE WE NEED CPR! Someone, Google the Heimlich :} [cookie if you get the reference]), and Motaku1235 (TARDIS recognition #4), Jinxed dragonfly (Jinxed dragonfly, meet Lucky and Father Time! *shoves them at you* Father Time: I remember when the Man in the Moon taught me... Lucky: STORY TIME! *grabs you so the two of you can listen*), and AquaWolfGirl (TARDIS recognition #5) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Lucky. She's mine. I wuv her :) And Father Time, too. And new OC this chapter.**

Chapter 6

Jack was awakened by sunlight filtering through the frosty glass-

_Deja vu_ the Winter spirit thought to himself. He had gone from never sleeping at all to doing so two nights in a row. How odd things had been since Lucky arrived, he pondered. That's when he rolled over and his hand whacked into a snoring Jester's nose. The April Fool didn't even sniff. Carefully, Jack lifted his hand and tumbled out of bed. Ironically, it was then that Jester swiped at his nose and bundled the rest of the blanket up, heaping it all on himself. Jack snickered, wishing he could pull a camera out of nothing like his best friend. Who'd be the King of Pranks then?

To avoid having to excessively apologize to curious elves, Jack lazily floated through the halls and to the workshop, almost falling asleep again as he lay on his staff. He eventually bumped into the massive door, and was almost reluctant to open it, considering what happened yesterday.

_But if I walk in on one of those 20s gang fights, I am SO out of here!_

There were no games of Russian Roulette that morning, though. Lucky was awake before him, as usual, and watching as North tinkered with the Las Vegas city. She pointed at one of the building and mumbled something, which was promptly fixed. She caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye and grinned.

"Hello handsome." Her eyes glimmered purple.

"Good morning to you too," he smirked. "What'cha doing?"

"Just relaxing." Jack's eyes wandered to her's again. They were blue now, and he gasped in realization.

"WAIT. WAIT WAIT WAIT. Your eyes match your mood."

"Now you're on the trolley(1)!" she laughed, clapping and pointing to him.

"What? What is going on?" North questioned, being torn from his ever-expanding train set. It was at that moment the train itself zoomed by, actual steam being puffed from its engine. It smelled like peppermint and cinnamon sticks.

"Just a second, I'm gonna start a list," Jack said, spinning around. "You know, so I can read your mind."

"Blue is calm, obviously," she called, her attention on the miniature city again.

"Noted!" He said, saluting. He heard multiple faint pops in the direction of the train set, and spun around to see North falling out of his chair and Lucky gripping her's before laughing.

"Ha!" she guffawed. "A couple spiffy(2) torpedos(3) and suddenly it's the epitome of Vegas!"

"I think I will take them out," North mumbled as he got up.

_At least it wasn't a _real _20s gun fight_ Jack thought as he turned to leave... slamming right into Bunnymund.

"Whoa there, mate!" he laughed as Jack joined North on the ground. "That's why ya watch where you're goin'!"

"'That's why ya watch where you're goin'," the Winter spirit muttered, propping himself up on his staff.

"Now North told me you were meetin' other spirits," Bunnymund stated as he hopped over to the train set.

"Ah, yes!" the Guardian of Wonder boomed, spinning his chair around and standing up, arching his back. "My friend, could you take them to Central Park? In New York?"

"I know where Central Park is!" Bunny said defensively. "And sure. Do ya know someone there?"

"Yes. Someone there." Lucky caught a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Okay. Follow me, ya buggers." Bunny tapped his foot and jumped down. Lucky scurried off her stool and followed him down, shadowed by a pencil-diving Jack.

The Guardian of Fun was becoming more accumstomed to tunnel traveling, and managed to plant his staff into the ground to balance himself. Unfortunately, Lucky seemed to get the same idea, with Jack as her staff. The two toppled to the ground, Bunnymund laughing above them. Lucky and Jack seemed to be frozen, him on top of her, and he tried to pull his thoughts together.

_Okay, I'm pretty sure purple's flirtatious. Her eyes were purple when I first met her, and she called me hot in the first sentence she said to me. So logically, her eyes would be purple now and she's probably thinking..._

But they weren't purple. They were yellow, bright yellow, and the red boiled up in her cheeks as she pushed him off and got up. Despite being confused as to how she didn't make a dirty joke, Jack couldn't help but add:

_Yellow equals embarassed._

"Well, I forgot to ask North which spirit was 'ere, so this might take awh-" The pooka's eyes stopped wandering directly to the right of him, and he smacked his forehead. "That bloody wanker!" Jack and Lucky followed his gaze, the latter murmuring something about a "lucky" guess.

In front of them was a scene that was not unfamiliar to anyone that's been to Central Park. It was a young couple, a red-headed girl and a muscular boy, bundled up against the snow, snuggling on a bench (you know, to keep warm.) On the other end of the long bench was what the three assumed to be the girlfriend's younger brother, judging by his own head of curly red lochs. His expression would shift between one of contempt for the boyfriend and one of joy whenever his tiny Schnauzer puppy would lick his chin. Jack and Lucky glanced at each other, not quite sure what the significance of this was.

"Over there," Bunny said, pointing and hopping into a bush to hide (whether from whoever he was pointing to or the children that might see him, the pair didn't know.) They looked in that direction and saw a man, not much older than Jack, with windblown blonde hair, freckles, and little eyes whose color was indistinguishable at this distance. He had on a regular white V-neck shirt, skinny jeans, and a pair of moccasins. They only thing that seemed to shield him from the cold (which Jack was excitedly adding to by spinning his staff around) was a pink scarf, both ends dangling behind his back. The man was studying this scene intensely, then noticed a dog-walker approaching and smiled before dashing over to the boy.

"Hey!" Jack said, recognition dawning on him. "I know that guy!"

"He's cute!" Lucky cooed, tapping her chin.

"Then yer finally outta luck, sheila!" Bunny called from his hiding spot.

"What do you m-"

"What an adorable dog!" the man said in a voice that may have been a bit too high and was tinged with a European accent of some sort.

"... Oh."

"Thanks," the boy said pridefully, petting the Schnauzer. "Say, aren't you cold, sir?"

"Naw," he replied. "I don't really get cold." He peered past the boy's shoulder and saw the couple, who were now kissing. "Don't like him, huh?"

"Oh, Derek?" the redhead asked, his voice lowering to a whisper. "No way. He's always teasing me and touching my sister in weird places, even when she tells him to stop."

"Oh no no, that will _not _do," the man agreed. A grin sprung up on his freckled face. "Tell you what: I'll set your sister up with someone she'll _really _love. Will you help me?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed, glancing in the couple's direction. They were so caught up in each other they hadn't heard a thing. "But... how do you know he'll be right for her?"

"I'm good with these things," he assured, swiping the scarf off his neck. Two giant wings sprouted out of his back, and a bow and arrow fell to the ground.

"Cupid!" the boy breathed, his face glowing.

"Now, here's what you need to do..." It was at this point that Cupid began whispering his plan, out of earshot of Jack and Lucky. There were a couple nods from the brother before he stepped back and readied his bow. The younger redhead smacked his puppy's butt, and it started barreling towards the dogwalker, a Puerto Rican with tousled black hair that was tripping over his own feet as the dogs dragged him along.

"Silver!" the boy yelled out, finally breaking the two apart.

"Oh no, not again!" the sister grumbled, running after the dog. Cupid got two arrows- gold with heart-shaped points- from his quiver. The arrival of the Schnauzer made all the other dogs go berserk, trying to sniff its tiny form. This was too much for the poor dogwalker and he fell over, his legs tangled up in the leashes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the sister apologized, grabbing his hand as his brown eyes met her blue ones.

_Fft!_

_ Fft! _

The arrows hit with no pain and went straight through their targets, never coming out the other side. The two teenager's eyes were locked, and their hands looked as if they'd never let go.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" the brawny boyfriend asked, trying to sound intimidating. The brother giggled and ran to get his dog. Cupid looked on with a smile on his face, swinging the bow and quiver over his shoulder. It was only then that he caught sight of Lucky and Jack.

"_Åh Gud_(4)!" he exclaimed, flying over to Lucky. "This outfit is _so _fabulous! 20s fashions are so in right now!"

"I know, with _Great Gatsby _coming out, everyone's trampling each other to get a drop-waist dress!"

"And art deco's all the rage!"

"What is going on?" Jack asked, eyes shifting between the two. Cupid sized him up and sighed.

"Jack. What what WHAT are you doing. You look like you just picked through a yard sale from the 90s and then rolled around in some snow." Next thing he knew, the spirit of love was very close, examining his face. "But you're skin is _flawless_! What do you use to keep it so white and smooth?"

"Uh... immortality?"

"Oh, right, forgot!" he said with a laugh. His eyes- which were a soft shade of pink- looked past Jack's shoulder and at the bush Bunny was hiding in. His little cottontail was sticking out. "Oh Bunnymund! Have you been avoiding me?" Like a demon being summoned from the ground, Bunny stood, irritated, and shook the snow from his head. A swing of his staff and Jack replaced it all, resulting in the pooka having to glare daggers at two people at the same time.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Bunnymund. BUNNYMUND. Did you lose that conditioner I gave you _again_?" The Guardian of Hope was seriously considering escaping and letting Jack take Lucky back to the North Pole. "I've told you, it's the latest formula! It'll make your coat look shiny and smooth, you'll feel like you're 200 again!"

"Yeah, I'll pass," he grumbled again.

"Okay, so I know you're Jack Frost," Cupid stated. "And that's Bunny over there, but who's the girl with the fabulous fashion sense?"

"I'm Lady Luck," she replied. "You can call me Lucky."

"That's adorable!" he agreed. "Why haven't you and I met yet so I can take you to Fashion Week?"

"You'd take me to Fashion Week?!"

"Duh! We'd totally have fun insulting all the wannabes!"

"She's new, not even a hundred yet," Jack teased.

"I'm 105, thank you very much!" she said defensively.

"Yeah, if you count all the years you were alive."

"Jack!" Cupid scolded. "You were less than a hundred at some point, too!" He turned back to Lucky. "I was wondering where that youthful glow was coming from!"

"Yeah, Jack!" she agreed. "Youthful glow!" Jack scoffed and stepped back, promptly getting hit by a boomerang.

"Ow! What the heck?"

"That's for the snow." Bunny hopped up and whacked him upside the head. "An' _that's _for bein' a bloody idiot!"

"Where have I been an idiot?" he demanded as Cupid complimented Lucky's shoes.

"Ya were just makin' fun of Lucky! Makin' her feel bad!"

"So?" Jack asked, even though he couldn't look him in the eye. "I thought girls _liked _being told they were young."

"They don't like bein' called a baby," Bunnymund sneered.

"I wasn't calling her... a baby..."

"Yer just lucky that Cupid's not gonna take 'er," he stated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bunny shrugged and twirled his boomerang. "You... just... Lucky!" She turned around at her name.

"What?"

"It's time to go," Jack stated.

"What? But why?"

"Lot's of spirits," he replied, grabbing her wrist and dragging her over to the bush. "Not much time."

"That's ridiculous, we have the rest of eternity!" she protested. She planted both her feet in the ground and grinned. "Why so protective all the sudden?"

"Protective? I'm not being protective," Jack said defensively.

"You so totally are!" Lucky giggled. "Alright then. Bye, Cupid!"

"Bye hon!" he called back, grinning at the sight in front of him. Bunnymund opened a tunnel and the two teens jumped in.

"I love it when I don't have to do anything." Bunny turned around.

"Nothin', huh? Then why ya holding yer bow?" Cupid realized that his golden bow was still in his fist, and he hastily swung it over his shoulder.

"Fine. I might've done a _tiny _bit." Bunnymund shoook his head and jumped down the hole after them.

**Author's Note: 1- "Now you got it!" 2- well-dressed 3- hired guns 4- "Oh my God" in Danish (once again... c'mon Google Translate work with me!)**

**Did ya like him? Did ya did ya did ya? I hope so, 'cause he's a big character later on.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	8. Chapter 7

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Alright Ekaterina, thank you very much for your review :) Thank you for also being the first one to acknowledge Lucky's eyes. Really, it was nice and I loved it :) But, I shall clear something up right now: THIS IS NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE. IF I EVER WRITE A LOVE TRIANGLE, SHOOT ME PLEASE. I hate love triangles. They are probably my least favorite thing in any piece of literature or anything else. They are stupid and I despise them with every fiber of my being. Two people in love? Sure. Same situation but one doesn't know? Cool, adds to the drama. Two people love each other while another is being totally friendzoned? That's freaking Eponine from Les Mis, I love that girl. Heck, I'm writing that in another story! But love triangles? NO. NO NO NO.**

**Now, thank you to That Girl in the TARDIS ("Oh, dude, I am NOT doing that!" XD Here's your cookie! *gives virtual cookie*), StarlitWave10 (XD you sound like my sister when we saw a trailer for it before Les Misarbles! XD She was like "I wanna see it I wanna see it I wanna see it" the entire time!), FireheartNinja ("Translation? 'Desperate, desperate, I am really desperate! Are there any stalkers on my grounds?'" XD), Anime Girl, 21SidraCire (I've got all the OCs, but two of those are going to be introduced. Thank you, though :) ), Jinxed dragonfly, Motaku1235, kittycat2892 (that's who he's based off of), and Aqua (Cupid: Remember hon, you gotta be invisible!), Ash (I was specifically waiting for your reaction, 'cause I wanted to know what you thought with your own Cupid. Two very different approaches, but I like them both :) At least they're both male. CUPID'S MALE, FANFICTION WRITERS. OH OH OH, and I have an Adventure Time one-shot, check it out :) ), and c. blythe (HIIII :D I would've been very disappointed if you missed that) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: All I own is Lucky, Jester, Pops, and Cupid. However, I do NOT own the OC introduced this chapter. She belongs to LunaMoonlight100, who has graciously let me use her because I love her. The story's **_**Samhain? No, it's Sam Hain!**_

Chapter 7

"Why do you do these things?!" North bellowed as Bunnymund, Jack, and Lucky were ejected from the tunnel.

"Sorry, I thought I was helping!" Jester laughed from the top of a very tall cabinet, just out of the Cossack's reach. The wings on his converse fluttered, but he didn't go anywhere.

"What did you do?" Jack said with a grin, floating upwards so they were at eye level. Something stopped him, though. Something sticky seemed to want nothing more than to cling to his sweater. From below, Lucky sqeaked and covered her mouth, and Jack looked up. He had run into a giant spider web, expertly crafted from silly string. Upon closer inspection, he could see the elves were tangled in its white, intertwining strings. Jack couldn't help himself; he doubled over in midair, high-fiving Jester from his spot on the cabiet.

"Do not encourage him!" North ordered, examining the spider web.

"Aren't ya the one that's always complainin' about 'em bein' 'underboot'?" Bunnymund asked with a grin. North contemplated all his former complaints.

"Well... yes. I guess I do."

"See?" Jester insisted, flying down from the cabinet. "I'm just looking out for you, man!" A relieved sigh bubbled through the room, and everyone turned to Lucky.

"What's wrong?" Jester asked with a grin. "Afraid of spiders?"

"Spiders are mutant balls of lent that somehow sprouted eight legs for the sole purpose of jumping on my face when I was a girl," Lucky stated, standing up straight and crossing her arms.

"It's cool if you're afraid of spiders," Jack assured her with a thoughtful expression.

"Cool," Jester snickered. "I see what you did there."

"One of the curses of being said ice spirit," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I can't say 'cool' or 'chill' without people thinking it's a pun."

"Hey! It's Sandy!" Jester and the Guardian of Dreams fist-bumped again and North mumbled something about how he always had company now, which Bunny countered by pointing out how much he loved it. He didn't deny it.

"Hope we didn't set you too far behind with your dreams when we saw Pops," Jack said, flicking his staff and consequently freezing the nearby floor. The expression on Sandy's face said that yes, it had.

"We went and saw Cupid today," Lucky said with a smile, which Sandy copied. Jester looked up suddenly, his one brown eye filled with surprise and his fake, purple one merely the same shape.

"You saw Cupid?" he asked, his glance shifting between Lucky and Jack.

"Yep," his best friend replied, poking the spider web.

"Like... together?"

"With Bunnymund," Lucky corrected.

"The anklebiter tried to sell his bloody shampoo again," the Pooka grumbled.

"I believe it was conditioner," Jack snickered as he returned to the ground. "And he made a very conivincing argument!"

"Ya wanna go? Let's go!"

"Hi, everyo- Jack, Bunny, are you about to fight again?" Tooth had entered- North couldn't for the life of him figure out how- and was watching their exchange with an irritated expression. They backed down, but Bunnymund made the "I'm watching you" sign before turning away.

"Toothiana!" Jester said dramatically, his flying shoes putting himself at eye level with her as he smiled his most charming smile. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall doing anything to offend you in the past." Tooth scratched her feathery head as the mini-fairied appeared behind her, all swooning upon seeing Jester's masked face.

"I don't think you've done anything," she replied with a smile. This was when Jester really turned on the charm.

"Well, in that case, it's _lovely _to see you ag-"

"What brings you here today, my friend?" North asked with a smile. Tooth whispered an address to one of her fairies and turned back.

"I heard that you were taking Lucky and Jack to see spirits, so I thought we'd go to Fearfall."

"WHOO!" Jester laughed, pumping his fists.

"What's Fearfall?" Lucky asked, eyes light red from irritation at never knowing anything. Why had she locked herself up in casinos for so long, anyway?

"Only the coolest place on the face of the Earth!" Jack explained, now as excited as Jester.

"And that's where Sam Hain lives," Tooth added with a smile.

"Sam Hain?" Bunnymund piped up, glancing their way. "The one that's always throwin' them parties?"

"The ones you get drunk at," Jack added with a snicker. Lucky held in her laughter as she envisioned the Pooka walking sideways and yelling Australian gibberish in his intoxicated state.

"That anklebiter spikes the drinks, she does!" he said defensively. "'Just a dash'. Yeah, right."

"Giggle water(1)?" Lucky asked, recalling her days in the speakeasy as a mortal, shunning the forbidden drink. "I'm not gonna get drunk, am I?" She had always wondered what it tasted like...

"Nah," Jester assured, his shoes flitting excitedly. "She only does that kinda stuff at her parties. Man, do those get crazy! Hey Tooth, remember that time when all your mini-fairies got into the cider and-"

"I'd rather not talk about that," she said, wincing.

"That's okay," Jack replied with a smirk. "I wouldn't want to remember that mad scramble to collect teeth with drunken helpers, either."

"She has parties?" Lucky, who always considered herself a party girl, asked. "I've never heard of them."

"She might not have had one since you became a spirit," Jester said, trying to be comforting. "You're 90, right? Yeah, I don't think she's had one recently."

"And still young," Lucky said with a flirtatious smile. "So, how do we get there?"

"We need a grave," Tooth pointed out.

"You know where it is," North pointed out. Tooth nodded and led the way. Lucky, who was growing quite used to being the only spirit not in-the-know, glanced at Jack, ready to ask him who the grave was for with a huff. However, his eyes were as confused as her's were, and he followed the fairy on foot while Jester (also confused but not showing it) flew with his Converse.

Tooth fluttered through the halls with surprising confidence in her direction, only occasionally asking her mini-fairies (who could apparently find the teeth on their own for a certain amount of time before having little nervous breakdowns) to fly ahead and find out where to go. After what seemed like an eternity of wandering the halls (Lucky had long since taken off her shoes and joined Jack in barefoot-ness), they came upon a dark room with knotted cherry blossom trees releasing their eternally falling petals, solemn confetti in a solemn room. The ceiling was a perfect replica of the sky, with shooting stars every few moments and the Man in the Moon smiling upon the beautiful tomb.

"Daisy redecorated a couple centuries ago," Tooth whispered. The sound reverberated throughout the room, like a ripple in water. "It looks nice, doesn't it?" The fairy fluttered ahead, and Lucky noticed that the floor beneath them was complete blackness, the blackness that you could fall in and fall forever. As the path continued, the cherry blossom trees gave way to black roses speckled with silver dew. Seeing it, Jack couldn't help but flick his staff in their direction. To his surprise, they didn't freeze. He stopped, gawking at the enchanted roses.

"Close your mouth or it'll catch flies," Jester said with a smirk. He stayed behind while Jack stuttered out the reason for his astonishment. Lucky smirked and walked on, not paying attention to what was in front of her. Her lack of perception led her right into a pool, which she jumped out of with a gasp. The first thing that caught her eye was the giant stone in front of her. The words engraved in it were hard to make out, for the only light (besides the dim stars above, as the moon was behind a cloud) were the candles that surrounded it, letting off a new scent every time they flickered. The pool rippled for only a moment, and then its contents were quite clear. Lucky knelt down to get a closer look.

It was a young woman, her face framed by wavy hair the color of the cherry blossom trees from before. Her lips, heart-shaped and tiny, were open slightly, their edges tilting up in a Mona Lisa smile. Her dress was a welcoming light blue, and her knee socks a black and white pattern that fed into her shoes. On her back was a cloak, blacker than the path they were walking on, spreading out in all directions like a rippling pair of wings. For a moment, the moon peirced the clouds and illuminated the a corner of the stone. Lucky only saw a fragment of the enscription:

_leine_

_Life_

_Death_

After that, darkness muddled the words and left her blind again. The spirit of luck gazed at the glassy surface of the pool again, feeling drawn to it. She extended her fingers, just to graze the surface...

The image of the woman wavered. She was nothing more than a reflection.

"Sam!" Tooth said, knocking on the stone. "Can you let us in? Jack, Jester, and I ar-" before the fairy even finished, the ground opened up and sucked her in. Jack cackled and hooked Jester with his staff, jumping into the hole. Jester managed to grab Lucky's ankle and the three were dragged into the darkness that lasted but a moment. The two pranksters caught Lucky before she made contact with the cobblestones below her and set her down gently. She stomped her shoes on- she'd managed to hang onto them when they were sucked down- and squealed upon looking up.

"Haha!" a girl much too close to Lucky's face laughed. "Fear, good in any form! I mean, that wasn't any cheesy horror movie scream, but a squeal's good too, I guess." Glancing behind them, her grin broke into a smile as Sam Hain spotted Jack and Jester. "Frosty! And my favorite clown!"

"Sam!" Jester laughed excitedly, springing over Lucky (with some help from his shoes) and jerking the witch's hat off her head. Something told her that, if it was anyone else, Sam would've turned them into a newt. But it was Jester, and she laughed as she snatched it out of his hand.

"Lucky, meet Sam," Jack said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and grinning. "Sam, this is Lady Luck."

"Bearer of Fall, spirit of Halloween, bringer of fear to Earth, and all-around awesome witch, at your service," Sam greeted with a sweeping bow. She certainly looked the part, with a black knee-length dress and matching cape. She adjusted her pointy hat to sit comfortably on her head of chestnut waves, and her bright green eyes shone beneath its shadow. Her orange and black striped socks were the outfit's sole source of color, the only other besides black being a wooden Wiccan symbol that hung around her neck. "Have these two been bothering you? 'Cause I have an army of the undead over there, and I can have them eat their brains."

"You just used that as an excuse to brag about your zombie army," Jester protested, leaning against her.

"That's because it's a _freaking zombie army_."

"What else can you do?" Lucky found herself asking, cautiously looking past the corner that supposedly housed this army of the dead.

"Oh, you know, a bunch of stuff. Bring trees to life. Call upon demons. Change the weather, but Daisy hates that, so I avoid it. Hey, I was able to renovate this place when I found it a couple hundred years ago." Sam winked at Lucky, a smug grin breaking free. "You learn a lot in a thousand years."

"A thousand years?" Lucky asked, recalling her mere ninety.

"She's exaggerating," Jack scoffed. "You said it was the 1200s. Wait, can you actually bring trees to life?"

"That's the least interesting thing I can do, Frosty."

"Dude, I'll make an ice person and it and your tree can duel!"

"You're on! But I'll totally win."

"Yeah right. Jester, you're rooting for me, right?"

"Sorry bro. Sam's tree is gonna smash your ice sculpture."

"That hurts," Jack said, holding his heart with mock sorrow. "A little help, Lucky?"

"Don't get involved," Tooth whispered. "Sam's gonna kick his butt."

"Sorry Jack," Lucky apologized, throwing her hands up. "I only take sides in card games."

"Aw, you suck!"

"Look out, Frosty!" A tree that had been uprooted from the side of the road swung at Jack's ice knight, which jumped out of the way.

"That's one of the most powerful spirits for you," Tooth laughed as the knight tried to stab the tree. "Sam can do almost anything she wants after centuries of practice. This place?" For the first time, Lucky took a good look around. It seemed like a traditional New England town, with dashes of green and orange. Every garden had pumpkins and chestnut trees, and the square directly ahead had a fountain being cloaked in pumpkin vines and a wooden statue of Sam, leaning on a broom and smirking.

"It's amazing," Lucky said.

"Thanks!" Sam shouted as her tree threw the knight into the air.

"It used to be a literal ghost town," Tooth continued. "A shell of this. We're not even sure how it got here; Sam just found it and made it her own. Here, it's Halloween all year."

"NO!" Jack shouted dramatically as his knight was smashed. Sam whooped and Jester picked her up by the waist, spinning her around as they shared her victory. As the hat flew off her head, you could see how bright her face had become. Jack waved it away, going back to Lucky and whispering: "I coulda won. Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said with a grin.

"So you're, like, 90, right?" Sam asked, rubbing her ribs from where Jester had carried her.

"105, technically. Jack refuses to acknowledge it."

"Aw, he's just-" Suddenly, a realization dawned on her and she gasped dramatically. "You haven't been to one of my parties, have you?"

"The last party you had was at _least_ a hundred years ago," Tooth corrected, trying to figure out how much time had passed.

"Dude! Dude dude dude! That's not allowed!" Sam exclaimed. "I'm going to throw a party. 20s theme, just for you!"

"That... that would be great," Lucky breathed, her golden eyes wide. _Gold is happy._

"I need to start planning," Sam stated, beginning to pace. "I'm sure that I can find some person that died in the 20s... that'd be helpful, right?"

"Talk to a movie star," Lucky asked, eyes bright. "I always wanted to do that!"

"A movie star? Be creative, woman, I do that every other week!"

"Oh no!" Tooth shouted, flitting around nervously. "The mini-fairies are going to start with the fetal positions if we don't get back!"

"Go on, I need to concentrate," Sam said, her mind already elsewhere. "I think one epic battle is enough for one visit. I'll see you later!" With a twirl of her fingers, another hole opened, and Lucky guessed it would deposit them back in the Pole.

"Bye Sam!" Tooth said with a smile. "Can't wait for the party!"

"I'll get you next time," Jack challenged, falling backwards into the portal.

"See ya, Sam," Jester said, jumping into the hole.

"Bye!" Sam exclaimed, snapping out of her trance.

"Bye," Lucky said, falling backwards as Jack did. "Thanks for the party!"

"Bye..." Lucky left Fearfall behind, it's Halloween colors fading into the portal as Sam's thoughtful face blurred.

**Author's Note: 1- alcohol**

**Me: You know, North, you're a real narcissist.**

**North: What? What makes you say that?**

**Me: Well, on Christmas, I came downstairs and lo and behold, your own book was in my stocking. Who puts their own book in someone's stocking?**

**North: But... but this book, it is what you asked for!**

**Me: I don't wanna hear it, narcissist.**

**North: But-**

**Me: Shush. I'm the author. Back to the fourth wall with you. *North jumps over the fourth wall* Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 8

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Dudes. If you haven't read the books, go read them NOW. Like, RIGHT NOW. It doesn't matter if it's in the kid's section, just suck it up and grab 'em, 'cause they're GREAT. **

**North: See? This is what you wanted.**

**Me: Shut up. Thank you to Aqua, 21SidraCire (Pitch wants to rule the world with his fear; Sam simply brings it into the world to magnify the effects of the Guardians. It's a little complicated, it'll be explained), Luna (awwww, thanks :3), Maddie, Jinxed dragonfly (um... is Sam from anything besides Luna's story?), Ekaterina (I made a Nightmare Before Chris-oh would you look at that!), Ash (yeah, I hope you like Gumlee :3), Anime Girl (thank you, I got the last author's not idea from my sister :) ), Dragoneisha (I like vocabulary. I get lots of good words from there :}), kittykat2892, N3v3rm0r311949 (if that username is an Edgar Allen Poe reference you are my new favorite), amore1993 (I read that and laughed, 'cause her eyes are genuinely emeralds when she gets curious XD), skylaeatpie (yeah, you got an account :D And I've actually got plenty of OCs, probably more than I should XD), and Oluhasuu for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG.**

Chapter 8

"Usually there's stairs," Jack said with a smirk as he helped Lucky off the ground. Much to her annoyance, she seemed utterly unable to stay up after being shot through any sort of magical teleport. It was probably the shoes... she'd get more practical attire later.

"She must be pretty preoccupied today," Jester sighed, hands behind his head as he kicked the skateboard that he'd picked up not long ago. The elves probably knocked it down again while doing nothing. "I wonder what she's thinking about."

"It's okay girls, I'm here now!" Tooth was preoccupied, too. Her mini-fairies were flitting about frantically, some already crying on the floor. The yetis were making sharp turns to avoid stepping on them, running into each other in the process.

Eventually, Tooth was able to get her mini-fairies to calm down. This had taken her full concentration, and basically eliminated all focus on anything else. That's why her jaw nearly dropped when she turned around. North was still engrossed in his train, in the exact same position he had been before (the train set itself being awe-inducing enough.) Lucky and Bunnymund were having a battle with their cards and boomerang, and Jester, Jack, and Sandy were trying to coax a blinked-out light in Ireland back to life.

"I don't think that's how it works," Tooth murmured. Suddenly, seeing where the child stopped believing, she gasped and flew into the air. "Hey, why don't I take you to see Oo-"

"I'll take 'em," Bunny said suddenly, ears shooting up. Letting his guard down, one of Lucky's cards smashed into his chest, but he got right back up.

"It's okay," Tooth insisted. "The fairies are fine now. I can-"

"They'll 'ave nervous breakdowns again. I'll take 'em."

"Who're you talkin' about?" Lucky asked, grinning mischeviously.

"The Leprechaun Queen," Tooth answered.

"I met her the first time I went to Ireland," Jack said, jumping off Sandy's sand cloud. "Isn't that the one that you keep thinking will be the next Guardian?" The golden man nodded eagerly.

"I'll take 'em, Tooth," Bunnymund assured. He tapped his foot against the ground and a large tunnel appeared. "Hop in. C'mon."

"I'll pass," Jester said, backing away towards the door. "She's mad at me. See, I put this bug in this farmer's field as a prank, and... she's mad at me."

"Isn't everyone?" Lucky asked with a smirk.

"Touche. But she's nice. Have fun!" With that, Jester darted out the door.

"I am going to kick him out when you leave," North bellowed.

"That's cool!" Jack answered, taking one step in the hole. "Bye!" Lucky jumped in after him, and finally Bunny closed it with his exit.

They were in a forested area when they came out, but on a path with a pasture behind them. Jack managed to catch Lucky, both staying upright with the former's staff lodged firmly in the ground. Bunnymund exited the tunnel smiling.

"Hurry up, ya slowpokes!" he said eagerly, turning and hopping down the path. His cottontail wiggled ecstatically, a potentially embarassing fact that did not escape Jack's observant eyes. They continued down the path, and Lucky couldn't help but admire how green it was, even greener than her eyes when she was curious.

_Green is curious._

They eventually came to a copse in the trees, an unnatural but beautiful arch of willowy branches marking its entrance. There was a large rock at the far edge, and the ground was speckled with pink and blue wildflowers. Upon entering, the three heard a note being played somewhere in the distance (Jack jumped about three feet, making him and Bunny equal in embarassing discoveries.) Exactly two steps in, a small girl jumped out from behind a bush (Jack controlled himself.) She giggled a little bit, a giggle that sounded like tiny bells, before snapping and making a miniature fiddle appear in her small, pale hands.

"What's she doing?" Jack whispered to Bunny.

"Shut up ya wanker, it's 'bout to start!" Before he could ask what "it" was, the leprechaun started playing the fiddle, faster than and better than any mortal could. Lucky's eyes went gold as she became giddy, the music making everyone happy. Four other leprechauns, two little redheaded girls and two brunette boys, danced out onto the rock and began to a complex four-hand jig, almost skipping off the rock multiple times but always staying on. Five more leprechauns, four girls and one boy, shooed the smaller ones off the stage and began to do an even more complicated reel, forming shapes with every step. The fiddling, which had grown so fast that the girl playing's hand was nothing more than a blur, reached a high note and all the leprechauns happily skipped off stage, joining the Guardians (who were epically failing at trying to mimic the dances.) Seeing this, Bunny's face lit up and he hopped even higher than before.

On her toes in ancient-looking hard shoes, the Leprechaun Queen appeared, intense red curls bouncing with each step. She was taller than the rest, as tall as Lucky and a bit shorter than Jack and Bunny. She wore a green dress that easily blended in with the forest behind them, opaque black tights clinging to her tiny, rapidly moving legs. Her dance was the most complex of all, so shockingly fast that Jack and Lucky stopped and gawked. Each step made a loud, delightful_ clack _noise, and and small green eyes crinkled as her pink, heart-shaped lips smiled ecstatically, as if this was the only thing she ever wanted to do.

The music stopped abruptly, and all the little leprechauns joined their queen on the monolithic rock as the Guardians clapped. The Leprechaun Queen murmured something and they all bowed, pointing one toe and flicking it upwards before lowering themselves respectfully.

"Prepare somethin' for their travels," the tall (in comparison) redhead ordered her little subjects, who readily complied. She smiled at her guests again, clicking across the rocks and hopping off in front of them. "Hey, Bunnymund! How ya doin'?"

"Good." Jack and Lucky's heads snapped in his direction. He was no longer the giddy schoolboy he was before; his arms were crossed and he looked as calm as could be. Lucky gasped and smiled, turning to Jack to see if he was thinking what she was. From the blank look on his face, he wasn't.

"An' Jack Frost! Where ya been? Ireland hasn't gotten a good cold spell for awhile."

"I decided not to be too hard on you this past century," he said with a grin. Her green eyes finally wandered to Lucky, and upon seeing her her face lit up like a child.

"Lady Luck! Why haven't ya come to see me yet?"

"I've never really left Vegas," Lucky admitted sheepishly.

"Well I'm glad ya finally came to your senses! I'm Oonagh(1), the Leprechaun Queen." Without waiting, Oonagh grabbed Lucky's hand and shook it fervently. "I've been waitin'. The Man in the Moon told me when he made ya, and I've been patient."

"I'm glad someone was so excited to know of my existence," she said quietly, grinning.

"Oh, you have no idea! It's important for spirits ta know each other, 'specially for me. Now c'mon, I want ya ta see my castle."

"You live in a castle?" Lucky asked, memories of her human childhood when she dreamed of living in castles and being a princess.

"O' course! I'm a queen, after all. Where's my little darlins'?" As if this were some sort of signal, the leprechauns scurried from the bushes and motioned for them to follow them. Though the vegetation upon leaving the forest was even thicker than before, all the viridian leaves seem to bow to the Leprechaun Queen, respectfully making a path. Still, the branches and shrubbery scraped at Jack's bare ankles, and the castle blended in so well that he almost stubbed his toe on the mossy, decrepit stone.

It was an ancient castle, rather small with ivy as its mortar. The rock that held it together looked as if they had been there since the beginning of time, and eroding ever since. Jack became increasingly happy that he hadn't run into the rickety castle, for if he had it was in danger of toppling over. All but one tower had been destroyed, and other parts of the ceiling and wall were missing as well. He could see a staircase spiralling towards the sky, nothing to stop it except for the lack of further building. The two teenagers glanced at each other; obviously, this archaic structure was not what the wannabe princess had been expecting.

"C'mon," Oonagh said with a smile. "We don' bite." And then she stepped over a crumbling wall and into her home. There wasn't even a door. Just an opening in the wall. Jack was thankful Jester hadn't come, because he probably wouldn't have been able to keep his laughter in. "Girls! Where are ya?"

All the other leprechauns scurried from some other room (with a door), working together to hold bowls and bottles and a low table. It was set up almost as rapidly as their dance, and the Guardians found themselves being seated. Bunny was set up next to Oonagh, much to a couple of the girl leprechauns' delight. A number of Irish dishes were in front of them, steaming and smelling exotic and homey at the same time.

"Ya can take anythin' ya want," Oonagh said after a moment of the Guardians drooling at the pleasant smell. They took her up on this offer, and the younger ones realizing that they hadn't eaten in a century or two.

"Oonagh's one of the oldest spirits," Bunnymund explained as he spooned out some stew.

"Really?" Jack asked, examining her young face. It was older than him, probably 26 or 27.

"Don' forget powerful," she added mischviously.

"That's right. She's on par with us Guardians."

"Then why are we Guardians and not you?" Lucky prodded with a smile before taking a bite of some sort of lamb dish, which melted in her mouth. Oonagh cringed.

"It's a bit of a long story."

"What's this?" Jack asked, holding a bottle with no label. Before the Leprechaun Queen could answer, he put it to his lips, taking a swig. He spit it up almost immediately, cringing.

"Whiskey," she replied, grabbing another bottle and chugging it. When she set it down, absolutely nothing about her regal appearance or demeanor had changed.

"Really now?" Lucky grabbed the neck of another bottle, taking a cautious sip. Oh... so that's what it tastes like. "Not bad." A wooden cup was placed in front of her, and she eagerly filled it. Oonagh looked on, worried.

"That may be a bit much, darlin'."

"Nah. I'm a hundred and five, I can do this!" Bunny literally facepalmed, and Oonagh cringed as the girl took a long sip. Jack, seeming to take this as a challenge, poured himself a cup and did the same.

"This won't end well," Bunny stated, pouring himself a cup as well and sipping it sparingly.

* * *

"That was a bad idea," Oonagh moaned, looking at the passed out forms of Jack and Lucky across the table. Her head was in her hands, but even Bunny couldn't help but snicker at the sight. "O' course they can't hold their liquor like us! Why didn' ya stop 'em, Bunny?"

"Because now that white-haired anklebiter will think twice 'fore he pranks me!" the Guardian of Hope said with a laugh, stashing a notebook that he'd written all the embarassing things the young spirit had said in his belt. Just a couple of the scribblings included a tale of Jamie's deceased cat and a very guilty Jack, a confession of love to at least three girls in Burgess, and a story about a cactus that Bunny still didn't quite understand.

"That's not very nice, Bunny."

"Neither is 'e!" Oonagh sighed, getting up from her seat on the stone to check on the two teens. She snapped in front of their faces. Nothing happened.

"Perhaps it's time ta go back ta me orgins," she said with a smirk. The same grin from before broke through Bunny's hard face, and he kicked all the dishes off the table without hesitation. Oonagh laughed (a surprisingly masculine sound) and hopped on the table. Then, without music and with Bunny as her only conscious audience, she began to dance.

This wasn't like the last dance, the one on the rock with all her little leprechaun subjects. Somehow, this managed to be much faster, and systematically unsystematic. The table rumbled and scraped as she pounded it with her hard shoes. Bunny was clapping, completely off rhythm with his laughter burying the sound, but that only added to the dance's chaotic, wonderful feel. To top it off, green dust twisted and swerved from her feet, pulsing every time her shoes resonated through the hall with a _clack_. The dust seemed to dance itself, until finally, it came underneath Lucky and Jack's noses. The two woke with a start, their eyes tired and surprised at the same time. Oonagh danced for a moment more before taking a bow to a confused Jack and Lucky.

"A dance that can cure hangover," Oonagh explained as she stepped off the battered table. "One o' the most important spells I've learned."

"That's what it's like to get jazzed(2)?" Lucky asked, rubbing her head. "Why on earth did Mother like it so much?"

"This is the cure?" asked Jack, his voice muffled since he hadn't bothered to keep his head up.

"It'll go away in a minute, stop whinin'," Bunnymund said with a smirk. "Those little leprechauns could do better than that!"

"How're you okay?" the Winter Spirit demanded, poking his head up.

"I've been alive fer longer than you can think of, mate. If E. Aster Bunnymund can't 'old some liquor, 'e can't do much."

"I'm sorry," Oonagh apologized. "I shoulda stopped ya."

"Not your fault," Lucky replied, stretching. "I'm starting to feel better." In a softer voice, she murmured: "Why? Why would she do that to herself?"

"What 'bout Jack?" the Leprechaun Queen prodded, nodding in the whitette's direction. His head was still on the table.

"Oh, he's just being dramatic," Lucky, completely okay now, said with a wave of her hand. "Come on, buddy. No need for that." Jack released a muffled sigh and sat up. He didn't look much better.

"I think I need a bit more than a hangover dance to cure me," he mumbled.

"Oh, darlin', you should go on home!" Oonagh stated, standing up. "It doesn' always work."

"Good to know."

"Well, we'll see you," Lucky said, grabbing Jack by the arm and wrapping her's around his waist supportively. "Don't want Jack to pass out. Who knows what the leprechaun girls'll do to him!" Indeed, the leprechaun girls were standing on the stairs, giggling at hungover Jack. Oonagh shot them a glare, and they were gone in a second. Upon looking down again, she saw Bunny sitting at the table, completely content.

"Aren' ya goin' ta go with 'em?" she asked.

"What? Oh, yeah. I 'spose we'll go." Somewhat irritated, Bunny got up and hopped onto the grass, where Lucky was holding onto Jack and waiting.

"_Beannacht_." Lucky assumed this meant bye. Bunnymund mumbled a goodbye, not looking her in the eye. With a tap of his foot, the tunnels to the center of the Earth opened up and swallowed them, much too fast for them to get a good final look at the Leprechaun Queen.

**Author's Note: 1- name of the fairy queen in Irish legend 2- drunk**

**In case you were wondering, I knew those dances because I actually do Irish dance. Granted, I haven't done it for that long, so all those leprechauns are a billion times better than me XD Thanks to Aqua for helping me with my Irish accent. **

**My sister's horse in Skyrim is named Frost and it keeps throwing me off -_- HOLY CRAP SLENDY'S IN THE LABYRINTH!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	10. Chapter 9

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: *sigh* Okay. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a fanfiction author with a vague idea of her plot. She did know, however, that she would need a lot of OCs, so in the second or third chapter of her surprisingly popular story she said she'd be accepting OCs. After reading through again, however, she decided that that wasn't a good idea and took it out. Thus, disaster was averted. **

**I am not accepting OCs. The only reason I have Sam Hain at all is because I **_**asked**_** if I could use her, and since Luna is awesome and she and I are buds, she let me. Don't get me wrong, I love your ideas. And I love that you like my story enough to want me to use your ideas. Unfortunately, I've already got more OCs than I should, so I won't accept any more. I may use them for the party scene, but I won't devote entire chapters to them. Sorry.**

**Thank you to Jinxed dragonfly (ohhhh okay. Well, you'll go on living, 'cause I'm not looking that up), Motaku1235, Dragoneisha, skylaeatpie, Luna (it's kinda just supposed to be implied, but we'll see), CelticGirl7, Tyler (TYYYYLLLLERRRRR! :D Also, she'll be drawing us fanart. And if anyone else would like to draw fanart... DO IT. Like, if you're unsure, just know that it'll make me die of happiness and then come back to like just to finish the story), TheJoyousCrosser (I didn't even know it was possible to love so many characters so much, and that applies to me and you and all the readers XD), Guest, Ash (where's my epic battle scene in Courage? I want my epic battle scene in Courage. Update after your update: ... Can we just be best friends? Please? I just really want to be your best friend. You're just so freaking amazing.), and Aspendragon (be patient. It's just the first chapter, everything is explained soon) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I own Lucky, Jester, Pops, Cupid, Oonagh, and new OC, but nothing else.**

Chapter 9

Upon exiting the tunnel, Bunny immediately resorted to his default action (flipping his boomerang and looking awesome.) With his keen ears, he could hear North say that he indeed kicked Jester out, to which Jack said it was okay because he'd gotten a house in France a century or two ago, and somehow the conversation evolved into a debate about white Christamases (Jack said that mortals loved them so much they made a song for them; North argued that this was not an excuse to make a blizzard.) What he didn't hear, however, was Lucky moving. At all. Finally, he couldn't take the silence and turned to the flash of silver that he saw out of the corner of his eye.

Lucky's grin was mischevious, but her gold eyes revealed her true joy. If his face wasn't covered in fur, she would've certainly seen the red that bubbled up in his cheeks, which would no doubt send her on a flailing, fangirling spasm.

But she didn't, and even though she could see through Bunny's serious mask, this lack of evidence was enough to suppress her inner happiness.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" The stentorian words erupted from North, who was pointing at the door.

"I don't have a room!" Jack protested as Lucky recalled all the fights she had seen teenagers have with parents back in Vegas. And her own fights, of course.

"Then what is that room that you keep sleeping in?"

"Is that my room now?"

"Yes! Now go to it!" Jack grumbled as he marched out of the room. Lucky guessed that steam would be coming out of his ears if, you know, he wasn't the personification of cold.

"'Bout time someone put that bugger in 'is place," Bunny said with a smirk.

"So is the room that I'm sleeping in mine, too?" Lucky asked hopefully. She would occasionally go into one of the rooms in her various casinos and sleep in there (which was really more an attempt to make her feel human and had nothing to do with fatigue), and sometimes she would even be able to snag the really fancy rooms on the top floor. But somehow, the bed that North provided was the comfiest she'd slept in, and it sounded welcoming (even if she wasn't all that tired.)

"Of course, my friend! You may go too, if you like." Lucky took this oppurtunity and, taking off her shoes, raced through the halls. She had become more familiar with them and found the room easily. As she reached for the door, she realized that her peacock heels were still in her hand, and she found herself wishing she had a change of clothes (or shoes, at the very least.) With a grin, she thought about how lucky she'd be if one of the really fast yetis got the urge to make a bunch of 20s outfits and, finding that he didn't have anything to do with them, brought them to her. Such a yeti was knocking on her door a few minutes after she came in, and she found herself grinning at the luck that literally flowed through her veins, luck that would never run out and always come back. She discovered this soon after becoming a spirit and took comfort in its consistency, something that she'd never really have.

The clothes were enough to make some of the most famous designers of her day go green as her curious eyes with envy, and she giggled at the wide assortment that the quick yeti was able to put together. There were lots of dresses and shawls and a big, fluffy fur coat, something she was sure would come in handy if she ever had to step out the North Pole's front door. There were lots of different shoes, too, with heels taller than the ones she had own at most and flats at the very least. She found herself most attracted to a pin-stripe suit, however, with suspenders and a matching hat. The pockets of the pants were big and a much better place to put her cards than the shawl's tiny, hidden pocket.

Lucky played dress-up for a very long time, for it was something that she didn't do after her mom left back when she was alive. So long, in fact, that her eyes had barely closed when light- which she was beginning to suspect was some sort of magic trick on North's part since the North Pole was completely black in Winter- filtered through her window and didn't cause her eyes to so much as flutter.

* * *

She wasn't sure what time it was that the light finally overpowered and awoke her, but it was obvious that it was much later than the past few nights. She patted herself to make sure she was decent- it was a black and gold art deco dress with the same stockings she'd been wearing and flats- before dashing out the door. By now, she could easily navigate the similar halls and was bursting through the mahogany doors in no time...

... to see North and Sandy in an intense rock-paper-scissors match and Jack struggling to hold his laughter in from the top of his staff. Turning around and seeing her, he couldn't help but release a snort and motion her over.

"What's going on?" she asked as the two tied yet again, much to their frustration.

"I'm not entirely sure. They're fighting over who has to take us to meet a spirit. At first, I wasn't sure if they just liked them that much, but after Tooth beat Sandy she cheered so I guess they're not very fun to be around."

"Did they say who it was?" Lucky prodded. North beat Sandy (paper to rock), and the other looked worried as they started another round.

"Nope. But now I'm curious!" On the second go-round, Sandy beat North (paper to rock again) and began a round again.

"What type of game is this, best 10 out of 19?"

"24 out of 47," Jack replied, eyes widening at the ensuing battle. Both Guardians wore an expression of pure determination, and the only thing assuring them that Bunny and Tooth weren't statues was the fairy's rapid wings keeping her in the air. "I'm not sure which round this is, though. I lost count at 14." This seemed to be it, though, because Sandy beat North (rock to scissors) and silently cheered as North moaned. Tooth and Bunny congratulated their golden friend and wished North luck as he trudged over to the two younger Guardians.

"Who is it?" Jack asked eagerly as he hopped off his staff.

"Mother Nature," North grumbled as he threw the snowglobe down with more force than usual. "Oh, and Jack!" The Guardian of Fun glanced at him.

"Hmm?"

"Make sure to stay in the air, my friend." With that, North threw down the snowglobe.  
"What? Why?" North was never able to answer him, for they were all sucked through the portal and spit out in what appeared to be a dense jungle. With a little difficulty, Jack managed to stay in the air and not touch the ground. Lucky had managed to stay upright, and the Guardian of Wonder grumbled as he got up. Was he... righting the grass he squashed?  
"What's with spirits and ruins?" Lucky found herself murmuring. In front of them was a huge Mayan temple, with moss and vines creeping out of the ancient cracks. Crumbling stairs reached up to the very top where a covered area could barely be seen. Even as tall as it was, however, the trees towered over it and the sunlight filtered through the thick foliage to light the ancient palace.

Peeking out from behind a jutting brick, a small girl- couldn't be older than 9 or 10- unintentionally made herself visible. She was short, as anticipated, with curly blonde hair that went down to her knees. Well, it started blonde, but it gradally turned to brown at the end, as if she had dragged it through mud. This theory was only enforced by the sticks and flowers twisting through her hair, but Lucky got the sneaking suspicion that it would hurt the little girl quite a bit if the older one tried to take these natural accessories out. Her dress also appeared to be made of flowers, but they seemed to weave themselves into her tanned skin, as did the mud and water that swayed as she did. Her bare feet were dirty, but somehow they were all aware that the tiny appendages would be wrong any other way.

Noticing that she'd been spotted, the little girl's eyes (which Lucky couldn't get a good look at in the shadow) widened. Upon seeing where her visitor's were standing, the already adorably enormous eyes dilated even more.  
"S-S-STAY STILL!" she squeaked, dashing over to them.  
"Excuse me?" Jack asked.  
"You're perfect," the little girl assured, turning to North and Lucky. "Oh, poor things! Your beauty is being flattened!"  
"What are you-" Lucky began, stopping as she watched the girl bend down and carefully right each blade of grass.  
"So pretty..." she breathed. "I'm sorry so many others don't see you the way I do..." North shot the other two shocked Guardians a look that said _See what I mean?_

"Are you... Daisy?" Lucky said, still surprised.

"I'm Mother Nature," she corrected, trying to sound grown-up as she righted the grass.

"You look a little young to be a mother," Lucky replied with a smirk. Daisy shot up and crossed her arms, her cheeks puffed as she backed away. The spirit of luck couldn't help but notice that the grass never bent upon her touch.

"Just 'cause I'm little doesn't mean I'm not strong!" she pouted. North looked around worriedly. "If it weren't for me, the Sun wouldn't rise everyday!"

"You are very powerful, my dear," North assured, smiling. "Lucky was simply... what do you call it... poking fun!" Daisy gasped, dramatically smashing her hands into her mouth and twisting her small upper body.

"_You're _Lady Luck?" she squeaked, bouncing on the heels of her bare feet. "Oonagh told me about you! And Sam did, too! And... lots and lots of people!"

"Really?" Lucky asked, genuinely excited. Daisy nodded, her blond/brown/flowery curls bouncing and flopping as she did so.

"Mmhmm! Can I..." Suddenly, Daisy grew shy and cupped her chin in one hand and clutched her dress in the other. "Can I see your cards?"

"Of course you can," Lucky laughed, reaching where her shawl would normally be. But she had changed clothes, the first time in 90 years, and forgot her cards. "Oh, I'm sorry, darling-" She blamed this wording on Oonagh "-, I forgot them at the Pole." Daisy's face fell, which only made Lucky feel worse, but North gasped heavily.

"Do not worry, my dear!" he assured hastily. "Lucky can come again! Then, you can see her cards!" Her let out his Earth-rumbling laugh, but it sounded more worried than jolly. Daisy turned back to Lucky, and only then did she get a look at her eyes. They were the Earth, rotating slowly with clouds blurring the occasional continent or ocean, the perfect satellite in the eyes of a little girl.

"Will you?"

"I'll certainly try," Lucky promised, suddenly wondering what would happen when this image of the Earth became teary. Daisy pouted, as if this wasn't enough, and North's eyes widened- and it wasn't in wonder.

"Hey Daisy!" This was the first time Jack had spoken, and the little girl jumped at his voice. Her eyes narrowed.

"You're Jack Frost, aren't you?"

"That I am," he replied, flashing his most charming grin. Unfortunately, that only worked on the fairies and not 9-year-old-but-not-really spirits. Her pout deepened.

"You keep messing up the weather," she said emphatically, looking up at him defiantly as she crossed her arms and rocked on her heels, which she did often.

"And you wanna know why?" Daisy's eyes widened with curiosity, even though you could tell she was fighting it. Her stubborness lost, however, and she nodded enthusiastically, sending her hair flying again. With a grin- the one Jack used with kids-, he waved his staff and snow began to fall, right there in Belize. Lucky immediately wished she'd brought her new fur coat, but North laughed again, and this time it was wholly jolly. Daisy, though, was the most effected of all. Her jaw dropped, which caused the little flakes to fall in her mouth. She clamped it shut, giggling behind her mouth. Jack cocked his brow, scooping up the quickly accumulating snow and throwing the hasty ball at the little girl. She was even more shocked at this, but then Jack's snow did that thing Jack's snow does where it suddenly makes everything okay. And soon, the four of them were having the only snowball fight to ever happen in Central America, all thoughts of a potentially disastrous temper tantrum far away.

* * *

"The Sun doesn't talk to me like the Moon does," Daisy explained at the top of the pyramid. They had trudged up the stairs, Daisy beating them all by a long shot. She bounced excitedly at the top, jumping into a crumbling throne that rested at the top. None could deny her when she begged to tell them about making the Sun rise, so they patiently sat and listened. "He's still nice, though. He always comes up right when I ask him to, even if it takes awhile." She giggled. "He can be such a sleepyhead!"

"How'd you get here?" Lucky asked as the little girl settled more soundly into her throne.

"I helped the Mayans build it!" she said excitedly, bouncing in place. "They were really nice, even though I couldn't always understand what they were saying. And there were all those frustrated calendar people... One of them got so mad, he just threw down his work one day!" She was laughing again, but Jack's mind flashed to a movie that Jamie had shown him. It had been about the Mayans, hadn't it? "Anyway, they had _plenty _of nice pyramids, so I tried to tell them to stop cutting down trees with their weird axes and stuff. But they wouldn't listen! So finally, I had to..." Everyone was leaning in now, waiting for Daisy to finish her story, but she simply covered her mouth with her hand.

"Daisy..."

"I've gotten better!" she exclaimed, blushing furiously. "Like all those people that are causing oil spills and littering and deforest... ing... I haven't done anything in a long time!" North whispered something in Jack's ear, and he visibly relaxed.

"Well," he began, "I for one am melting here and want to go back to the North Pole so I can freeze again."

"But... but you'll come back, right?" Daisy prodded, her eyes widening as the Earth continued its slow rotation.

"Of course!" Jack replied, smiling. "Lucky can come back with her cards, and I'll bring Jester and Sam and-"

"Jester?" she said, her eyes narrowing. "He's the one that's melting all the ice bergs." Her face brightened again as she resumed bouncing. "B-b-but it's okay now! He made those shoes, so now he won't step on the grass! And, and you're working on un... pre... _re_freezing them, _right_, Jack?"

"Uh, yeah." Lucky smirked, recognizing this guilty response.

"Bye bye! Bring your cards and... and all that stuff!" Jack saluted as they trotted down the stairs, nearly tripping and falling to what would have been his mortal doom if Lucky hadn't caught him and pulled him to eye level.

"Lucky! I made you a present!" The Spirit of Luck's eyes widened.

"Seriously?"

"Yes! See, here it is!" North excitedly held out what looked like a normal bracelet, which Lucky took wearily. I mean, it was pretty, but-

And that's when she saw the inside. There was snow swirling about, quicker as she shook it. It was a snow globe inside a bracelet.

"Is this..."

"A teleprompter!"

"Teleporter."

"Yes! Exactly that! It works the same way as the snowglobe! How about you take us home?" Lucky nodded numbly, shaking the bracelet- a very silly action if not taken in context- and thought of the North Pole. "Oh! And one more thing, my friend." She looked up at him. "Daisy dispersed the Mayans. They could not stand all the whining." Lucky giggled and threw the bracelet, sending them rocketing into the workshop.

**Author's Note: Ha ha! I should have the next chapter up soon, I'm looking forward to it. **

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	11. Chapter 10

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Guys... Guys Guys Guys... GUYS THERE'S 101 FOLLOWERS. I'M NOT LYING. LOOK AT IT. OR IT MIGHT NOT BE DISPLAYING IT, IN WHICH CASE JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. Dude, this is... AHHHHH. THIS IS GREAT. I love all of you **_**sooooo **_**much! I've always wanted to peak a hundred followers, and I kept on telling myself "Well, some people only faved" and that one self-concious part of me's like SO?! So SCREW YOU, self-concious part of me! I gots 101 followers!**

**Anything you want me to do? Anything? I'll seriously do whatever you want. Within reason. Until then... PARTY AT FEARFALL!**

**Thank you to DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympian s (that is the most long and awesome name ever), Motaku1235 (I really need to thank you. You know, for reviewing since the beginning :) ), kiabella, Dragoneisha (you... you... you did fanart? HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE BEST FANFICTION DAY EVER!), **

**Disclaimer: I own all the OCs introduced thus far, excluding Sam.**

Chapter 10

The South American humidity had done more to Jack than he'd anticipated, and he lost no time in yelling a hasty goodbye before going out into the cold. He let his winds, which lately had only been used to keep him him aloft in the North Pole's hallways (a trick he'd learned after defeating Pitch that wasn't typically appreciated), carry him around the world at their record-shattering speeds. Feeling especially unbridled that night, he made stops in Russia, Northern Asia, Canada, and New York, causing snowstorms not quite bad enough for North to get angry with him but still bad enough that you could hardly see your hands in front of your face. He also made quick stops around Ireland (to assure Oonagh that he remembered what she said) and the rest of America, leaving crunchy frost in his wake as he neared his final destination: Burgess.

He was growing weary after his sudden bout of teenage passion, and the winds slowed down as Jack looked lazily up at the starry sky. The Man in the Moon seemed to be laughing at his escapade, the large sphere hanging high in the sky in all its silver glory. The Winter Spirit was beginning to truly admire it, as much as the night he broke through the ice, when suddenly he bumped into something.

"Whoa!" He jumped up, holding his staff in fighting position. To his surprise, it was almost like looking in a mirror. In front of him was another boy, younger than him, holding a bright spear with a pulsing diamond dagger attached to the end, posing in almost the exact same stance as Jack. He looked like a normal boy, if a normal boy could be made of mist and moonlight. He had celestial armor on, as glowing as the spectral child himself, and his hair stuck up occasionally. He peered at Jack with wide, innocent green eyes, and they both knew they weren't facing an enemy.

And it's a good thing, too, for Jack had lost control of his winds in those short moments and began to plummet.

He didn't fall far. The spectral child could _never _let that happen; instead, Jack found himself falling onto what felt like solid ground. He turned slowly, jumping again at his new platform. It was a road of pure light, just like the boy himself, who had joined him on this glittering addition to the sky. Jack looked between the two for a moment.

"So... you did this?" The boy nodded eagerly, almost as childlike as Daisy. "That's pretty cool, man." The spectral child beamed with pride (as if he could get any brighter.) "And you look like you could handle that spear. Why haven't I heard seen you before?" The boy scratched his head, seeming to contemplate something. "Seriously, where have you been?" At this point, the boy seemed to decide that he was done. He released a tinkly laugh, and the bridge disappeared and he darted through the clouds. "Wait!... Aw, whatever." Jack continued on his way, for Burgess wasn't far, wondering about this new spectral companion. He was glad when Jamie's house came into view; it was Saturday, and the boy would surely be staying up reading. He quietly reached his window, not surprised that Jamie was under his blanket with a flashlight beaming through. It only took a few knocks, however, to snap him out of his trance and send him barreling to the window.

"Jack!" he exclaimed, throwing the window open. "Where have you been? We've been getting a lot of snow and stuff, but you're never actually _here_..."

"I've been busy," Jack explained, ruffling the boy's already tousled hair. "Met a couple new spirits. Hey, speaking of that, can I see your books?"

"Sure!" Jamie said ecstatically. Whenever Jack looked at his books, the teen didn't hold back when pointing out every single mistake, and it could get pretty heated. "Which one do you want? I've got books on urban legends, old legends, you name it!" Jack contemplated his wide selection. Something told him that the spectral child was old, far older than he, so he replied:

"Old legends."

"Okay!" Books were suddenly being thrown at the Winter Spirit, who had to drop his staff and catch them in midair. Eventually, Jamie seemed satisfied with this mini-library, and the two set to work.

* * *

It took hours to look through all of them, and Jamie was having trouble keeping his eyes open by the end of it. Jack was frustrated; there was absolutely no mention of any spectral child.

"He looked pretty normal," he went on, even though Jamie was having trouble listening at this point. "Well, except for the fact that he was made of bright... stuff. Seriously though, he was hard to miss, you'd think there would be some record of him!"

"You never noticed him," Jamie pointed out wearily, yawning for the billionth time. Jack scoffed, scanning the bookshelf from his position on the bed. He noticed that, though there wasn't a book made entirely for Lady Luck, there was one on card games. For some reason, he found his blue eyes fixed on it's black, curlicued spine, and it Jamie only took a moment to notice.

"Do you have a crush?" he prodded, grinning. Jack jumped off the bed, dusting off his pants and crossing his arms defensively.

"What makes you say that?"

"The way you're standing."

"Before that!"

"You were just staring off with that weird look in your eyes," Jamie explained, rubbing his own. "Brandon's been doing that a lot, ever since he fell in love with Thalia Beauregard. He just stares at the back of her head with this goofy smile and _that _look in his eyes!"

"Well," Jack replied, somewhat condescendingly, "I wasn't grinning like an idiot _or _looking at the back of a girl's head."

"Yeah you were. Grinning like an idiot, I mean. What were you looking at?" Jamie hopped off his bed and padded to his bookshelf. "Man, why wasn't I paying more attention?" Jamie turned around, his arms now crossed as defiantly as Jack's. "Is it... Mother Nature?"

"Maybe you, but not me," Jack snickered.

"Is it... the Leprechaun?"

"How do you even know she's a girl?"

"_Is it?_"

"No! Bunny would kill me!"

"Is it... wait, Jack, it isn't Sam, is it? 'Cause Sam doesn't like you like that. She liiiibababababa." Jack's eyes narrowed at Jamie's blatant aversion to whatever it was he was going to say.

"Since when are you the love doctor to spirits? Whatever. I don't like anyone."

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Jamie!" Both boys froze at the brunette's dad's voice, which was zigzagging through the hall. "If you're gonna read, do it quietly!" The two narrowed their eyes, gazes once again fixed on each other.

"Do to," Jamie whispered.

"I think it's time you went to bed. It may be Saturday, but believe it or not, sleep's still necessary." Somewhat against his will, the boy crawled under his blanket.

"Sleep is... is..." Jamie was snoring before he could finish. Jack snickered and flew out the window, quietly closing it behind him.

* * *

Jack was able to sneak past Phil and get into the Pole. I mean, sure, he could've just asked and the yeti would've let him in, but where would the fun be in that? And he _was _the Guardian of Fun, after all. He couldn't betray all the children that counted on him to bring snow days and general amusement by merely _asking _to be let in. That's why he spent an hour, tiptoeing past North's vigilant guard, until finally the door was open just enough for him to slip through and he shot through the halls, laughing.

"Where have you been?" Lucky asked when he entered the workshop. North was carefully crafting a waterfall in his mammoth train set, the water splashing on his hands as he worked on what appeared to be a hidden cave behind the blue, cascading curtain.

"Oh, you know. Making blizzards. Bringing fun to the children of Earth. Stuff I've been slacking on."

"Well you will need to slack more!" North bellowed, jerking his hands from the supposedly finished cave and wiping them on his pants. "I have one other spirit for you to visit!"

"One more?" Jack asked as North groped around under the table for a snowglobe.

"_Da_(1)! Mother Goose."

"Mother Goose?" Lucky prodded. "So, an old tomato(2) that'll tell us stories?"

"She will not be whatever it is you are expecting. Especially is you are expecting a fruit!" Lucky rolled her eyes. These people had lived through the 20s, why couldn't they understand her? She didn't have much time to mentally complain, though, for the snowglobe was broken and they were shot through a portal.

This time, the Guardians were surrounded by trees. It actually looked like what Lucky was expecting when North said he was taking them to see Mother Nature. The tree trunks were subtle shades of brown, with knotholes housing all different kinds of creatures, and the fern leaves that towered over their heads seemed to be swaying even when there was no wind. It was nestled in these leaves that Jack and Lucky saw an enormous treehouse, so high above them that neither were keen on traveling all that way.

"Katherine!" North yelled, his strong voice shooting high enough into the trees that it might've reached the elevated homestead. If you squinted, you could see someone peak their head out of a window before scurrying back inside. Lucky was able to catch a glimpse of it, and was just leaning into North to ask if that was Mother Goose when her question was abruptly answered. From somewhere in the trees, an enormous goose honked and erupted from the leaves, spinning a little bit before descending. Its rider ecstatically hopped off the goose's silvery feathers and ran to North.

"North!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you for so long, and it hasn't been long since Pitch attacked, and-"

"Well I am here now, my dear," he laughed before spinning her around. "Katherine, this is Jack Frost and Lady Luck!"

"You two are the new Guardians?" she asked, cocking her head. A gentle smile spread across her pale face. "It's so good to finally meet you! My name is Katherine." North was right; Katherine was not at all what Lucky had been expecting. She was young, perhaps even younger than her, with curly red hair and kind grey eyes. Her coat was big and yellow, even though it wasn't particularly cold, and it was no wonder that the word "mother" was included in her title. Everything about her was welcoming and warm, just like a mother would be.

"North, you said you'd introduce me earlier!" Katherine scolded. Also like a mother, scoldings from her resulted in a blush of shame.

"I am sorry. But it is almost Christmas, no?"

"Mmhmm. Right. Now, Jack!" Katherine turned to him, her smile bright. "I've already recorded your last epic battle with Pitch, and I'd love for you to proofread it! North gave me the details, but I'm not sure if I can totally trust him after he said that he single-handedly took down three hundred Nightmares, so..."

"You can't really trust Jack's honesty, either!" Lucky laughed.

"And you're Lady Luck, the newest spirit!" Katherine went on excitedly. "Why haven't I met you, either? I need to add in a section for you!"

"Uh..." Very rarely was Lucky speechless. But this was the second time in the past few days that someone had said they were constantly wondering where she had been for the past ninety years (maybe it was a redhead thing), and considering the fact that she had spent said ninety years not thinking anyone wanted to give her the time of day, this was big news.

"I was just... you know... chilling in Vegas."

"Well then I'm glad the Guardians came and got you," Katherine went on, backing up towards her pet. "Say, did you have anything to do with the battle with Pitch? Because I'll need to edit that in-" She had been patting down the goose's back, and her small grey eyes widened in surprise. "Oh no! Kailash, did I forget my storybook?" The goose- Kailash- ruffled her feathers in what could be interpreted as a shrug. Katherine looked up at her treehouse distastefully. "I must have forgotten it. Well, I guess-" Suddenly, someone landed beside her and triumphantly held out a very large, leather-bound book and a pen.

"You!" Jack exclaimed. "It's you! The glowy kid!" The "glowy kid" looked up and waved with the pen-filled hand.

"Oh, Nightlight, have you met Jack?" Katherine asked, gratefully taking her book and pen. Nightlight nodded, his already big smile broadening upon seeing North.

"Nightlight!" the Guardian of Wonder bellowed, spreading his arms out. "It has been too long, old friend!"

"I'm balled up(3)," Lucky admitted, crossing her arms and looking as if she didn't really care if anyone explained, for that might just make it worse.

"Lucky, none of us know what you're saying!" Jack said emphatically.

"You mean she's confused?" Everyone turned to Katherine, who was facing Nightlight. Even though he hadn't said a word, the two seemed to communicate just fine.

"Yes!" Lucky said ecstatically. "That's what that means! Finally, someone who remembers!"

"Hey North, can we keep him as a translator?"

"You do not know who you are talking about!" the addressed Russian bellowed. "Katherine, show these two what Nightlight has accomplished." So everyone gathered around Katherine and her enormous (it seemed that she liked everything to be unnaturally big) book, as she told them stories of Nightlight when he (much to Jack's astonishment) defeated Pitch and imprisoned him for a thousand years. Though it wasn't the old lady in a rocking chair reading from some brightly colored storybook like Lucky was expecting, Katherine got all the stories she wanted to across with her silky voice, a voice that you couldn't stop listening to if you tried, and her detailed, moving drawings. When she was finished (much to Jack and Lucky's dismay), the two eagerly helped her craft their own stories from the time of Pitch's battle. Jack tweaked all the details that North missed/added, and Lucky explained all the Nightmares in Vegas and how she was able to destroy them with her cards. When Katherine was finally satisfied, she and Nightlight flew up to her treehouse to put the book away.

"Katherine has every story you could think of that book," North said proudly, as if this was his own accomplishment. The word "book" triggered something in Jack's mind: all the books he and Jamie had looked at the night before. He would love this!

Then Jack's mind shifted to something else. Jamie hadn't had a book on Lady Luck, at least not from what he'd seen. But that didn't necessarily mean that he didn't believe in her, right? His blue eyes followed his thoughts, which always seemed to go to Lucky. It was obvious that she hadn't expected to be believed in or even liked before she was named a Guardian. That much he could follow just from her reactions to Oonagh and Katherine's saying they had wanted to meet her. But how could he get her to be seen and not invisible, how could he get her to move on from the same feeling that he'd had until Pitch attacked?

There was only one way he could think of, at the moment.

"Lucky and I need to go for a little bit!" Jack exclaimed, scooping her up bridal-style.

"We do?" she asked, confused.

"Yep. Tell Katherine and Nightlight bye for us!" And before North could protest, the winds roared through the leaves and picked them both up, sending them to Burgess.

**Author's Note: 1- "yes" in Russian, in case you didn't know that 2- woman 3- confused**

**SCREW CANON. (For anyone who doesn't know, Katherine and Nightlight are both characters from William Joyce's books and, as stated, I am kind of screwing the canon age-wise. And probably a bunch of other things-wise.)**

**I would also like to point out that there are only 3 or 4 searchable Lady Luck stories on Fanfiction, and that mine is the most famous as well as the first one. So HA. (Aqua, you might want to hold me back. You remember that conversation we had in this story's infancy.)**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	12. Chapter 11

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Me, as I'm getting into bed and am pulling out my laptop: Oh, what's the point? I'm not gonna get that 100th review tonight. I'll just have to wait OH MY GOD THE 100TH REVIEW.**

**Once again... Anything. Anything you want. Slightly out of reason.**

**Thank you to Doc (there :) ), Dragoneisha (there is no mediocre fanart. Any good author should be ecstatic that someone is giving their story the time of day, and if they sacrifice even more of that to do fanart or anything of the sort... It makes me so happy that someone likes what I do enough to do that that I want to cry), Luna (of course I did! :) And I'm not sure... it'll either be at the very end or right before the plot starts thickening. Probably the end), LovelyDovely (that is an excellent question. As a matter of fact, Katherine and Nightlight are the last spirits that will be introduced. The reason I introduced at all is because they are all involved somehow in the final battle and all battles leading up to that, which should begin soon), Falcrow (dude, Nightlight is my current literature crush :} He's just so freakin' perfect! He's got Jack's sexy mischevious... ness, Sandy's adorableness, and Bunny's awesomeness!), kiabella (yeah, but the Dark Brotherhood quests make my mom uncomfortable, so we'll have to get him later XD), Anime Girl (you wait however long you want, at least I know you'll read it eventually XD), 0renginal (well, since you all **_**adore **_**me so...), and Jinxed dragonfly (XD the only canon I screwed was their possible ages) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: That was the last OC chapter, so I can safely say that I own all OCs introduced except Sam (LunaMoonlight100) and Katherine and Nightlight (William Joyce). Oh, or Hot Hands.**

Chapter 11

Of _course _Jack would come. After all, it had been a week, and he'd just stopped by last night to research the glowy kid. He _had _to have known that Jamie didn't have school that day, and therefore would be waiting for whatever amount of fun Jack was prepared to bestow upon him. Surely he could take a day off from whatever he had been so busy with to have a snowball fight, or at the very least help the children of Burgess make the base of their next attempt at the world's biggest snowman. I mean, really.

But Jamie was beginning to lose hope as late afternoon rolled around, and he'd used up all his Hot Hands on his disturbingly stationary fingers. With a heavy sigh, he began his melodramatic exit of the snow and towards his house.

"Hey! Where ya going?"

"Jack!" Jamie exclaimed, ecstatically rushing up to his friend. Jack was casually leaning up against his staff with his usual grin, but his gaze kept shifting a little bit to his left. Lucky was holding her breath, waiting to see if her fellow Guardian was right and Jamie would indeed be able to see her on his first look.

He didn't.

"Hey, Jamie," Jack began, seeing Lucky's face fall upon realizing that she was still invisible, "there's some-" He was interrupted by her violently ramming her elbow into his side and shaking her head furiously. If someone was going to believe in her, it wouldn't be because Jack told them. Even if that meant she'd stay this way forever.

"What were you saying?" Jamie asked, eyes wide.

"What? Oh, nothing."

"Really? 'Cause it looked like someone just elbowed you." Lucky smirked. Observant kid.

"Naw, it's just me and you." Jamie's eyes narrowed. Jack was a pretty smooth liar, but he'd noticed that the spirit fidgeted with his staff whenever he did it. He was doing that now. The boy took a closer look at the space next to Jack, but nothing was there. He most not have thought of someone yet. Was it the glowy kid?

_Glowy kid, I believe in you!_

... Nothing.

"So what should we do today?" Jack asked, twirling his staff around and beginning a stroll towards Jamie's house. The boy hurried after him. Even if there was something there that he, for whatever reason, couldn't see, Jack was still here and that meant certain fun.

"Well, my mom was complaining about the pumpkins left over from Halloween," the brunette put in, adjusting his hat. "I asked Sam if she had any ideas on getting rid of them, but she just went on some dramatic tangent about the beauty of pumpkins, even when they were rotting and beginning to smell."

"Sam comes here?" Lucky asked, eyes widening. She didn't seem like the type that needed believers to be happy. Then again, maybe her happiness was because she had them. She waited for Jack to respond, but he just went on contemplating the best way to rid Mrs. Bennett of her leftover pumpkins. Only when he shot her a wink did she understand. She scoffed, but he was right. He certainly couldn't draw attention to her by talking to her.

"Pumpkins, you say?" Jack grinned after watching Lucky's cheeks puff out in irritation. "Well, we're very _lucky _today!" The emphasis on the key word was not lost on Lucky, and she looked past him at Jamie.

Still nothing.

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, noticing the flakes of dirty orange in the distance.

"I know just the way to take those off your mom's hands!" Jack assured with a grin, flying ahead of a confused Jamie and an invisible Lucky.

* * *

"PLAY BALL!" Jamie and his friends weren't sure how they hadn't thought of it! Pumpkin baseball with the plethora of tiny, smelly pumpkins that decorated their porches and stunk up their rooms. Genius! Jack had promised a grand finale for the rotting Jack-O-Lanterns and massive pumpkins leaning with their own weight, but not before stepping up with his staff as his bat.

Lucky sat on the sidelines, leaning against a tree in the clearing that the children had chosen as their playing field. She wasn't unhappy at not being able to play; she didn't relish the thought of getting stinky pumpkin seeds on her new clothes. What really bothered her was that no one could see her yet. I mean, sure, these kids probably weren't as intense about the Guardians as Jamie, but you'd think that they'd at least heard her name somewhere. Then again, they'd probably heard Jack's name, too, and didn't believe in him.

Which brought her thoughts back to Jack. He'd been exploiting every oppurtunity he could think of to say "luck" or anything like it, but the kids just looked at him, confused. That is, if they didn't ignore it all together, like they were doing now. He was doing his best, but it wasn't working. And the kids seemed to love him so much. Maybe she could help a little...

No. If people were going to believe in her, it would be because they figured it out, not because Jack flat-out told them. Lucky sighed. While it was certainly not the way to go, it was awfully tempting. That was how the children had come to believe in Sam and Jester, as well as any other spirit that came to visit them. It was so simple. "Hey guys, there's this witch that'll scare you. I know, but she's pretty cool, and her name is Sam- oh, look, now you can see her." But that didn't seem legitimate. She wanted something more than that.

Lucky surveyed the game. Jamie and Jack were team captains, even though it was essentially everyone against Jack. Even then, the Guardian of Fun was thoroughly beating them. The spirit of luck had a lightbulb moment. It wouldn't be enough to make them see her, but it may get the ball rolling...

A bit to Jack's surprise, Lucky smirked and swaggered over to Jamie, who was pitching. She shot him one last dazzling smile before bending over and kissing the brunette on the cheek. Jack's eyes widened, and Jamie released what was by far the best pitch in the game, sending the little pumpkin spiralling into a tree. At the sound of the bigger girl's (she heard the name Cupcake) "STRIIIIIKE ONE!", everyone on the other team cheered, and Jamie stared at his hands in wonder. Jack glared at her, but she merely giggled and moved onto the player closest to her. She made a quick circuit around the track, planting a lucky kiss on each of the players, until finally there was a chance they could've won the World Series with their luck. Jack was losing miserably now, and all the children cheered upon realizing that they'd run out of pumpkins to strike him out with.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered to the gloating children as they followed him to a blonde boy's red wagon, where they'd stashed all their bigger rotten pumpkins. Since he lost, Jack had to drag the wagon all the way to and up the cliff on the outskirts of the woods, where they planned to have a contest to see which pumpkin splattered the most.

"I just can't believe it," Jamie breathed for what seemed like the billionth time. "I mean, you were creaming us, and then all the sudden BAM! _We're _creaming _you_!"

"That was me, you know," Lucky said to her deaf audience. "You could be a little grateful." Jack glanced at his invisible companion. She was smirking, and he found it contagious as the smile broadened across his face.

"You guys just got _LUCKY_," he insisted, making sure to put more emphasis on the word than before. He had a feeling he was gonna owe a lot of kids a lot of money when they started making bets, if Lucky decided to pull the same thing she'd done at the clearing. If they just saw her...

They didn't. Instead, they all stared at Jack as if he had grown a third eye, or something equally strange (since a third eye didn't seem all that strange for the immortal spirit of Winter.) Lucky sighed, kicking a rock in her irritation. Only Jamie noticed, but it wasn't like he hadn't known there had been a hidden spirit before.

_Who could it be?_ he thought, racking his brain. He tried to think of all the weird, potentially paranormal things that had happened since Jack arrived. There had been that weird way Jack was talking, and the comeback at pumpkin baseball. Wait... didn't all the words Jack was saying especially loudly sound the same? He honestly hadn't thought about it before.

"Here we go!" Jack wheezed as he pulled the wagon up to the top of the hill. Very carefully so as not to rupture their soft skins, the children unloaded their rotten produce, occasionally throwing one over the side when it crumpled in their hands.

"Ew," Lucky said, a sneer snaking its way across her pretty face.

"Which one do you think, Jack?" Jamie asked, his brown eyes wide. The Guardian of Fun mentally cursed. He had been hoping for Jamie to go first, so he could choose the same one.

"Yeah Jack, which one do you think?" Lucky was looking at him with a glint in her opal eyes (_That must be mischevious_ he thought), and he sighed, already knowing how this would turn out. This hardly seemed fair; how was someone invisible to most people going to get enough money to pay back half a dozen kids?

"That one," he said stoically, pointing to a medium-sized pumpkin that he didn't really think would splatter all that much. All the other kids chose their own, betting their pocket change. The most was five dollars, but still, he would probably have to pickpocket someone for that. And he had tried to avoid that sort of trouble-making when he became a Guardian.

"Your's can go first, Jack," a tall redhead said, backing away from the cliff. With a sigh, the whitette scooped up his moldy pumpkin, lugging it over to the edge with the children he'd soon be in debt to on his tail. He was ready to throw it down in frustration, wondering if he could avoid petty thievery.

And then he felt her lips.

They were soft and pleasantly warm, just the right temperature for his cool cheek. And she didn't pull away immediately, either; Lucky's lips lingered for a moment, despite the coldness of his skin. Jack recalled the first time she'd done that, back at the casino. It had freaked him out so he wiped it away; mostly, though, it made him blush. Her kiss did the same thing now, and Jack found the pumpkin slipping through his fingers. It hit the ground below with a loud _crack_, which was strange considering its soft skin. The twins had to step back to miss being hit by the pumpkin guts, for that's how far the splatter reached. Lucky pulled away, leaving a gold imprint on his skin, an imprint that disappeared by the time he touched it.

"See?" she giggled. Her eyes were pink now, like rose diamonds. "That wasn't so bad."

No. It really wasn't.

"DUDE!" Jamie exclaimed, examining the debris below. "That was insane! I don't think it's possible to beat that!" Jack was half listening, but his main focus was turning around and pulling Lucky towards him with his staff. She let out a little squeak as their noses touched for a moment.

"What can I say?" he murmured. "I got really, really _lucky_."

And that's when it clicked. Jamie's mind retreated to the past, to one of his father's poker nights. The brunette had snuck downstairs in hopes of sneaking some seven-layer dip, and stumbled upon one man cheering and pulling in a mountain of poker chips, another man moaning, and the other four trying to comfort him.

"Looks like Lady Luck has turned her back on you tonight, my friend!" His father laughed, slapping the moaning man on the back.

And that's when Jamie saw her. She was beautiful, very close to Jack, and looking _very _excited.

"Cash or check(1)?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Lady Luck!" Jamie exclaimed, his face expanding with the smile. Both the spirits heads snapped in his direction, Lucky's expression turning to one of pure awe.

"He said my name," she murmured.

"I know," Jack replied, releasing her from his staff and sounding more than a little annoyed.

"Jack. He just said my _name_." Lucky's head snapped back in his direction. "And he's _looking _at me, too! Look, he sees me!"

"All you spirits sound the same when you get your first believer," Jamie laughed. Slowly, like little lights blinking on, all the other children began to see her. She was hard to miss; after all, Lucky was jumping excitedly and couldn't even make words for an annoyed Jack. Finally, not knowing what else to do, she ran up to Jamie, grabbed his face, and planted another kiss on his cheek. The brunette's face went red as a tomato and his mouth became a squiggly, upward-curving line that represented contentment.

"You broken any mirrors lately, kid?"

"Well, funny you should ask-"

"That'll cancel that out."

"Everyone," Jack bellowed, all eyes averting back to him. "This is Lady Luck, the newest Guardian. She insisted that you find her existence out on your own, but I'll admit, I did help." He smirked at her, and she smirked right back.

"A new Guardian?" Jamie asked, suddenly confused. "Why do we need a new Guardian?" The smirks were replaced with worried lines as the two young spirits looked at each other.

"We don't know," Lucky admitted, shrugging nonchalantly. She had heard the story of Pitch's return at Katherine's treehouse, and didn't want to stir those memories in these kids. "The Man in the Moon was just like, 'Hey, guys, Lady Luck's the new Guardian.' So Jack came to Vegas where we..."

"Where you what?" the blonde, bespectaled boy asked, shaking slightly.

"Found out that Jack is terrible at cards!" Lucky replied with a grin. Jack released the breath that he didn't even know he was holding. The correct answer here was that they fought Nightmares, but both he and the children liked Lucky's answer better.

**Author's Note: 1- Shall we kiss now or later?**

**TERRIBLE ENDINGS FTDUBS!**

**I'm gonna ask a question that I've been wondering WAIT WHY DON'T I DO A POLL. I'VE NEVER DONE ONE BEFORE :} Okay it's up.**

**Also, I have to ask for your help. See, Fabula and I have always done this thing where we give each character a theme song. And normally, I've got a bunch by the time I ask for help, but I am TOTALLY stumped with these guys. The only one I've got is Lucky. Ideally, I would like a song for North, Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, Jack, Jester, Cupid, Sam, Oonagh, Daisy, Katherine, and Nightlight, but if you have any ideas for anyone else I'll take those, too. I'll listen to all songs suggested and see if they're good or not. Also, since more is revealed about characters as the story goes on, this will remain open until I add the "Complete" to the end of that little thing up at the top.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	13. Chapter 12

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Oh Jack! Thank you so much for that snow day! Or, ice day! Or, ice north of us so there's nothing actually there day! Oh, and the snow after winning Reading Bowl? Man, I just KNEW that you wouldn't forget the humble fanfiction writer that set you up with a hot flapper!**

**Thank you to zaylo267 (SORRY I DIDN'T SEE YOUR'S UNTIL AFTER I POSTED! And um... it was probably just that he was tired), Doc (I was thinking like that one squiggly face in Charlie Brown), 0renginal (Iliketypinglikeyou), JustPlainOldMe (thank you! That was a good suggestion, but I actually got one for Jack. Thanks anyway!), Plague's Vengaence (Yeah, that works for Sandy XD And I got Jester's, but thanks!), LadyDream3512 (thank you so much! Character design and vocabulary compliments are my favorite :3), Jinxed dragonfly (so you need to get back to me XD), Llatias (me when I see your username: Hey I wonder if that's for the Pokemon OH MY GOSH YES IT IS GREATNESS. I shall now try to convince her to read my Pokemon fic...), Savage Kill, Dragoneisha (thanks! I'll find those...), Motaku (OH MY GOSH NIGHTLIGHT IS LIKE AHHHH I LOVE HIM), Guest (thank you! :D Like I said, character design compliments are some of my favorites), TheJoyousCrosser, Ash (AHHHH sorry just screaming 'cause I love you), and kiabella for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: Lucky, Jester, Pops, Cupid, Oonagh, and Daisy (c) me, Rise of the Guardians (c) Dreamworks**

Chapter 12

"Jack!" North exclaimed as the named boy and Lucky tumbled out of her portal. "I need to speak with-"

"NORTH NORTH NORTH!" Lucky exclaimed dashing up to him and rocking on her heels. "Jack was right! Jamie believes in me now, and so do all the other kids in Burgess!"

"Really?!" the Guardian of Wonder bellowed, kneeling down to her level, his arms outspread ecstatically. "That is wonderful! We are so happy for you! How did it happen?"

"Well, I kept on giving them luck- they killed Jack in pumpkin baseball-"

"_Because _you gave them luck!" Jack defended.

"And then Jack was about to... tell me something and Jamie realized it and then they all realized it and it was so exciting!"

As Lucky went on to tell North about all the things she did with the children when they saw her, Jack brooded in the corner. They had stopped talking to him when Lucky appeared, except for when Jamie trotted up to him and asked "Were you about to kiss Lady Luck?" And speaking of that, why did Lucky seem so hesitant to bringing that up in front of North? If any spirit was to kiss any other spirit, it'd certainly be her, and she never seemed hesitant before. So why now? Was it that she wanted to act like it didn't happen, that one almost-kiss that was shadowed by her when she became believed in but had inwardly brought Jack so much joy that his body temperature had risen for the first time in (literally) ages?

He glanced at Lucky, still hopping from excitement at being seen, and gulped. She had seemed to like it. But was kissing, something Jack had never experienced and felt was a big deal, so second nature to her that it was so easily forgotten and/or pushed away?

"Oh! Jack! I have news for you from Cupid!" Jack snapped out of his angsty stupor at North's deep voice calling out to him.

"What? Oh. What does he need?"

"He is sorting letters in home in Denmark, and wants anyone who can fly to help him." The jolly man tapped his chin, looking up in contemplation. "I believe he said Sam and Jester were there already."

"Aw, I can't fly," Lucky said with a pout. "It's okay, though. I was gonna practice with my cards anyway."

"That's fine," Jack replied, perhaps too hastily. North and Lucky both looked at him oddly, and the Guardian of Fun rushed from the room and to a door that led outside. He was perfectly content with being away from Lucky for awhile; he needed to think of what almost was, and wonder if she was pondering the same thing as she sliced North's dummies with her luck-drenched cards. Sam and Jester were his best friends, and Cupid was the spirit of love, for crying out loud! If he felt he needed help, these three were the people to give it.

With these comforting thoughts on his mind, Jack gathered up his winds and shot in Denmark's general direction. It was then that two things occured to him: 1) he had no idea where Cupid's house was. He had never even been that well acquainted with the spirit, not until recently. And secondly, he wondered if Nightlight would be there. He could fly, after all, and that seemed to be Cupid's only requirement. Why did Cupid need help, anyways? And what with? If he asked Jack to shoot an arrow, the Winter spirit would surely miss and end up making a toddler and a teenager fall in love. What was so pressing at his house?

Jack compiled all the thoughts he had on the spirit of love, blue eyes narrowing in concentration. He'd never heard anything about a house... wait, wait yes he had! Tooth had said something to Bunny about it, while Jack was messing with the elves. What had she called it? The Post Office? Why would a house of the most fabulous spirit there was be called something as dismal as a post office?

But what Jack really couldn't figure out was why he suddenly started asking himself so many questions. Seriously, he'd never done that before. Except, you know, when he was pondering the reasons behind his existence during those long 300 years. There were lots of questions then.

As Jack saw Denmark come into view, he flipped around so his eyes could focus on the hundreds of islands surrouding Scandinavia. Could Cupid's house be on one of those? They certainly all couldn't be charted, named, and occupied. And that large house that covered that entire island looked awfully unnatural... With a grin, the Guardian of Fun swooped down to investigate.

On the outside, it looked like a normal house, if not a large one. There was so little room between the ocean and its front door that Jack could knock upon landing, and even then the warm water tickled his ankles. He dearly hoped the door would open soon; this water was much too warm for his below freezing tastes.

"Jack!" The door swung outwards, and said boy would've fallen into the water if Sam hadn't reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Whoa, sorry bro! Forgot that Cupid doesn't know what a front yard is. Come on, we seriously need you!"

"Yeah, about that... What am I doing?" As Sam guided him through the halls towards the back, Jack got a look at all that was around him. The house was sunny, for there were windows everywhere. The furniture looked old-fashioned, and there were lots plants in large, clay pots. She could see the second floor, where a massive wardrobe leered over the railing and a bed with a bright red comforter.

"We're helping Cupid with the letters," Sam explained, as if that answered all his questions.

"... Right."

"Jack, are you _seriously _not familiar with one of the most famous displays of magic in the world?" Sam asked, almost offended, as they stopped in front of a massive door, much like the one to the workshop.

"Uhh..."

"For the love..." The large red door before them swung open, and so did Jack's mouth.

He was thankful that he hadn't stepped forward, because he would've fallen. The room this door led to spanned all three floors, and was peppered with pulleys and, most surprisingly, letters. They all looked exactly the same: light pink envelope, fairly small, zooming around as if they had minds of their own. There were also the paper airplanes, these varying in colors. They pierced through the air, making their own parades of color as they soared through the room and marched on the cobblestone floor below. The airplanes seemed to guide the fluttering envelopes into giant brass bins before attaching themselves to links of another brass chain. The room sounded like an entire brass ensemle, jazzy and romantic, which was no doubt what Cupid was going for. And speaking of Cupid, the spirit was pulling the chain with all the paper airplanes on the basement level, picking them off and flicking them open, his reactions varying. His pink eyes caught Sam and Jack as the former summoned her broomstick and flew to his level, the latter summoning his indoor winds and blowing a bunch of letters away in the process.

"Oh, good, you're _finally _here!" As the envelopes scattered around his slim frame, his face made a quick shift between a frown and a smile. "Oh yes, these will come in handy! Jack, I need your winds!"

"Have fun," Sam murmured, steering her broomstick towards the ceiling. It was here that Jester was collecting the pink envelopes that spat out of brass tubes in brass bins, an annoyed expression on his face.

"What's going on here?" Jack asked, picking an airplane out of its place in its rainbow parade and flicking it open.

"These are the dreams of all the lovers of the world," Cupid replied, snatching the blue paper out of Jack's hands before he could read it. "Whether they're written and thrown into the trash, or written and laughed at, or written only in their minds, I get them. And I have to respond to them accordingly." Jack glanced at the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of letters that flitted about the room. He understood why it was called the Post Office now.

"All of them? All by yourself?"

"Not always by myself," Cupid replied, starting to sift through the airplanes again. He groped a cluttered desk next to him for a pair of glasses, which he put on. "Sometimes Oonagh sends her leprechauns to help me. They're so adorable, and their love advice is fabulous!" Cupid sneered at a green airplane, crumpled it up, and threw it in a trashbin. Upon closer inspection, Jack saw that there were many, all overflowing, all brass.

"Not a good lover?"

"Terrible. Five boyfriends and wishing for another one."

"How did you reply?"

"To leave those poor boys alone and _Gud_, I knew girls were bad news."

"No, like, how did you reply?" Cupid glanced up, his pink eyes standing out even more behind the black, square frames.

"Oh, you mean the actual reply. I send them my thoughts. They just think its their conscience or something. Don't _have _to follow my advice, but it's their loss."

"Jack!" His blue eyes darted to the ceiling. Jester was looking ready to topple with a full bin of letters, and he looked more annoyed than ever. "You gonna watch Cupid read about chicks wanting to date vampires or actually help?"

"Just a sec, village idiot!" The whitette's attention returned to Cupid. "Why are there so many letters anyway?" Cupid snorted.

"North thinks he has a hard time at Christmas," the blonde replied, fixing his spiffy square glasses and reading a rogue pink letter at the same time. "_Åh Gud_, you have no idea how hard Christmas is! All the guys are like 'I think I should propose to my girlfriend!' and I'm like 'Hon, girls aren't worth your time, and either way that ring is NOT gonna cut it!' Anyway, could you use your winds or something to blow all the blue letters into the brass bins? Those are the engagement ones. Have to answer those first or all the boys are gonna get cold feet."

"Sure."

"Oh, and Jack." The Winter spirit was about to join Jester, who was dropping his letters again, but he looked back. "How's Lucky doing?" His alabaster skin turned an alarming shade of crimson.

"I think you know exactly how Lucky is."

"I do. But part of that's because of you."

"What are you doing, you stupid snow fairy?" Jack glared at his best friend. Usually, there was a hint of laughter in Jester's insults, but there was no joy in his voice right now.

"I'm coming! Don't get your bells in a twist."

* * *

Jester couldn't hold it in any longer.

He had been getting paper cuts from these stupid love letters for what felt like an eternity, and it took all his willpower not to scream.

But when one of the paper airplanes smashed into his chest and opened itself, Jester got a look at it's contents, and he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"This is the stupidest thing!" he laughed, doubling over in midair. But this wasn't joyful laughter. This was resentful laughter, as if he couldn't understand the complete idiocy of all these letters' authors.

Below him, Cupid froze.

"What did you say?" Jester nearly jumped. In no time at all, the spirit of love had sprouted his silky white wings, and they were now almost touching noses. His one brown eye and other artificial, purple one narrowed.

"I said these are stupid. These people are stupid. All of this is _stupid_." Jack yelped as all the tubes, which had been spitting out a steady stream of letters, closed up and all the other letters fell lifelessly to the ground. He and Sam glanced at each other.

"Are you saying love is stupid?" Cupid sneered, his voice a whisper. Jester leaned even further in with a grin.

"I'm not saying anything, diaper boy."

"That was one time!" Cupid exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "That was ONE PARTY. A mortal sees it, and suddenly I'm a baby spitting up while shooting people in the butt!"

"And that's all love is, isn't it?" Jester argued, genuine anger in his eyes. "Just you shooting people you think look cute together with your stupid arrows! They think they're _so in love_, but it's just you and your ridiculous assortment of bows!" Jack glanced at the numerous bows hanging on the wall; the golden one was the smallest.

"You're being an idiot, Jester," Sam scolded, looking ready to shoot a fireball at him.

"I am most definitely not! True love is a facade fabricated by this scarf-wearing pseudo-angel!" A bit to Jack's surprise, Sam backed off, turning her head.

"I can't make people fall in love, I merely push them in the right direction! Love is one of the best emotions one can feel; you can't be truly happy without it!"

"It's totally fake!"

"Like your laughter?" Okay, this was enough. Jack saw a pink letter caught between the two panels that had closed the chutes; the pink ones were the most heartfelt. Maybe that would help. As Cupid and Jester tore at each other's throats, and Sam stayed unnaturally silent, Jack tugged at the letter and was amazed at how easily it came came free. He grinned, suddenly feeling stronger than he was.

It disappeared when he saw the half of the letter that had been hidden by the brass panels.

It was disentegrating in his hands, the shiny black sand it was becoming contrasting his white hands. Jack gawked as the letter was eaten away, finally nothing more than a pile of the familiar sand. Without thinking, Jack tilted his hand, the sand grating his skin and landing on Cupid's head. The spirit of love froze as he pinched the terrifying mixture, and everyone in the room floated with their mouths open, mesmerized.

And then Cupid released the most angry scream in the history of Denmark.

And when Cupid screamed, a whole parade of Nightmares flung the door open and whinnied menacingly.

Jack dipped down to get his staff, but was flung upwards. Sam caught him and pulled him towards the wall, much to his chagrin. But what really surprised him was Jester, who casually flew over to them and joined them at the wall. He was about to ask why no one was conjuring fire or anything, when he noticed Cupid grab a bow and a quiver. This one was wooden, carved with intricate and beautiful designs, and it was easily as tall as him. The Nightmares whinnied once again, shaking the house, for they were in every room and perfectly synchronized.

"You don't mess with Cupid," Sam whispered to Jack as the aforementioned spirit readied an arrow.

The Nightmares reared up and began to charge. Cupid straightened his glasses and released the arrow.

The Nightmares exploded. There was simply no other way to say it. The tip of the arrow hit the first one and they all seemed to disappear in one simaltaneous wave of destruction. At first, it looked as if the horses just exploded and sprayed their sand everywhere. But after a moment, all the sand seemed to implode on itself, pooling up on the floors and spiralling before disappearing into the floor. And then they were gone. That was it.

"He didn't want to mess with me directly because he knew _that _would happen," Cupid sneered.

"Who?" Jack asked, even though he already knew the answer. Cupid took off his glasses and swiped at his forehead.

"Pitch."

**Author's Note: DUH DUH DUHHHHHH! So sorry I haven't updated in forever. Had a bit of a writer's block... but I'm back now! Yay! And it makes sense that Cupid's awesomeness is revealed so close to his holiday. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! And if you're alone while your sister is celebrating her six montheversay with her boyfriend and your parents are being disgustingly lovey-dovey... we can chill with our dogs and talk about how we don't need men even though we can't ignore how lonely we are.**

**Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	14. Chapter 13

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Been awhile, once again. Sorry. Not only did I have **_**no idea **_**what to do this chapter, I've also been going through some crap and… Who knows, maybe that'll just make the story better.**

**Also, guess what? I got Microsoft Word! Yay! I'll probably end up going back to OH MY GOSH STUPID GREEN SQUIGGLY LINES SCEW THIS**

**Whew! I'll never leave you again, WordPad!**

**Thank you to JustPlainOldMe (you're reviews make me really happy :3 They're just nice and stuffs), Llatias (it makes total sense! I don't know what you're talking about *hides*), Motaku1235, Doc, TheJoyousCrosser (thanks man! I put a lotta thought into the Post Office. I took inspiration from Paperman AND IF THAT MOVIE DOESN'T WIN AN OSCAR I'LL THROW SOMETHING.), 21SidraCire, CrystalBud, Jinx, Lady Shagging Godiva (Cupid: **_**Two tests**_**? This is a day of love and compassion, not getting stress BO because of tests! I should- Me: Yeah okay they get it), Anime Girl, and Chrisellea for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: All those other characters are mine, Rise of the Guardians is Dreamworks'**

Chapter 13

Bored and having done just about every other ecosystem he could think of, North had moved on to more complex ones, and was carefully crafting the dry, delicate biome that is the Mediterranean scrub. Animals were already scurrying about, and they seemed to be just right, but these orchids and other tropical plants were out of his element and taking longer. It didn't help that they would sometimes spontaneously combust, sending the Guardian flying from his seat and trying to convince himself that it was a normal part of nature. He really should've chosen farmland instead...

But he decided against that when all was said and done. Stepping back- and not because of the fire he'd grown used to- North was extremely happy with the sprawling, desert-like habitat, just as he was with everything else he'd finished creating. There was another ecosystem he remembered, one that didn't require many animals and was mainly rocks, making it easy and the perfect thing to relax him before going to bed.

North began to circle his gargantuan creation, looking for an empty space. Once, when he was about a fourth of the way through getting around its circumference, a volcano sent him sprawling to the ground, just as the wildfires had. He needed to see about all these fires... Wait a minute. There was no space! It was as if he was an artist who had painted an entire gallery, until finally all the walls were doodled on and there was no room for anything more. North sighed; perhaps it was time to pack it up. He had been working to tirelessly on his beloved train set, much to tirelessly when it was so close to Christmas. The old man swished some of the water in his ocean environment around, making the fish dart away into the nothing of deeper water, and rippling the view of the enormous coral reef below the surface.

Wait, there was a space! It was a small one, squashed between the sand dunes and some grasslands, but this ecosystem didn't need to be very big. North scrambled for his materials, determined to finish before he was too tired. He was done with the basic landscape and about to start painting when his workshop doors were thrown open and a frantic Cupid, Jack, Jester, and Sam emerged.

"Aw, my friends!" he greeted, leaving his seat and setting down his brushes. "Is beautiful, da?" He was referring the train set, of course, one paint job away from being completely full.

"It's incredible!" Sam gasped, watching buffalo graze in the prairie next to the unfinished habitat. They looked up at her, bored, then went back to their grass and flowers. "How do you keep everything moving?"

"The same magic you do!" North bellowed proudly, for once feeling like someone could see the extent of the magic in the project.

"It's great," Cupid agreed, stepping forward, "but we've got a problem." North turned to him, blue eyes wide.

"Oh?"

"Pitch is back." That got his attention.

"What?"

"He's been destroying my letters," Cupid explained, scowling at the memory. "Jack found out today while helping." North began to pace, all the people in the Las Vegas town next to him pausing to watch.

"Have you _seen _Pitch?"

"No, but letters were crumbling to black sand and immediately after fighting them this huge herd of Nightmares tried to kill us."

"I assume you beat them?"

"Single-handedly and fabulously," Cupid replied smugly. North's jolly face clouded.

"I wish I could say this was Nightmares only," he said grimly, "but they are much too stupid for this."

"It's Pitch, old man," Jester stated, flying up to a cabinet and sitting on it.

"But we can't do anything!" Jack muttered angrily, smashing his staff into the ground and freezing everything within a three-foot radius.

"He is right," North sighed. "For now, we must wait for Pitch to come to us. You train, no?" Jack remembered that Lucky was training and the idea suddenly seemed very pleasurable.

"Sure," he replied, already turning to leave.

"I'll kick your butt, Powedered Sugar!" Jester challenged as he jumped off the cabinet.

"When Cupid stops swinging that way, circus drop-out!"

"Now hon," Cupid interrupted, "I think we all know I'll beat all of you."

"Try saying that when you're making out with a chunk of the training room floor!" Sam laughs as she flies above all of them on her broom.

"Do not completely-" North stopped, contemplating who he was talking to. "Eh, the yetis will clean it up." This met heavy resistance from said yetis, but North was once again absorbed in his train set.

* * *

Sam opened the door to the training room and the area around her was peppered with glowing cards.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Lucky exclaimed, jumping when she realized she had assaulted her allies. But upon this accidental attack, something snapped in the three more cognizant teenagers. It was as if they had been holding in some sort of savage, violent instinct to attack, and a friend would do nicely as a punching bag. So, in response, Sam shot a lightning bolt at the girl, who shrieked and ducked.

"Think your cards can beat the elements, flapper?!" Sam exclaimed, a slightly crazed look in her eyes.

"Um... No, not really." Sam shot some icicles at her nonetheless, and Lucky yelped and broke them with her cards.

"Sam," Cupid said worriedly, "Maybe we should all calm-"

"Still think you can beat me, nose-nipper?" Jester challenged, flying upwards and conjuring up his juggling pins. Or, in case of a fight, clubs.

"Without even flying, Topsy Turvy!" Jack yelled back, running across the room and making an ice slide up the wall as he spun his staff around in an attempt to freeze his friend.

"Well this has the potential to get very bad very fast," Cupid mumbled, backing towards the door. Lucky, who seemed to be cursing in a dialect of modern and 20s slang, was desperately trying to fight off Sam's savage advances. The spirit of luck was finally beginning to understand why she was the spirit of fear. Jester and Jack were engaged in such fierce battle that you would guess it was to the death, and Cupid wasn't sure if he was very far off. He scoffed.

"Teenagers." The spirit of love flipped his scarf around, awaiting the satisfying _clang_ of a bow hitting the ground. But the sound never came. Cupid spun around, frantic, and realized that he must've forgotten his bow at home in their hurry. He scanned the scene in front of him; Lucky managed to get out of a corner right before Sam scorched it, and Jester was clubbing Jack upside the head with his pins. "_Forbandede hormoner_(1)." Well now what was he going to do?

"HEY." All the fighting stopped, and Cupid smugly turned to face Katherine. She was hardly filling the large doorway, but she still commanded an uncanny amount of authority. Nightlight stood next to her, taller, and also looked rather smug.

"Hey," Jack replied, spinning his staff.

"What are you doing?" she asked again, hands on her hips. Nightlight nodded enthusiastically, as if he was asking as well.

"Training," Sam stated. Her ball of wind had long since collapsed on itself.

"Really? Because it looks like you're trying to kill Lucky," Katherine continued.

"Uh..."

"She was," Cupid felt the need to clarify.

"Training," Sam repeated, this time with more conviction.

"I don't think killing the newest Guardian qualifies as training," Katherine explained, her voice softer. Nightlight nodded again, as enthusiastically as before. His glowing hair started to stick up even more from all this agreement.

"It may if we're training to fight Pitch," Jester countered, juggling his pins as opposed to braining people with them.

The room quieted. Nightlight, who had been as happy as before moments ago, frowned at the memories involving the Nightmare King. Katherine was reminiscing on her experiences as well. Lucky didn't have such recollections, but she knew who Pitch was, and that made her mad.

So she snapped too and a card lodged itself in the wall by Katherine's head.

In response, the redhead's latest throwing knives traced the outline of Lucky's head.

And then all hell broke loose again.

"_Hellig lort_(2)!" Cupid exclaimed, jumping behind a dummy right as an assortment of cards, knives, and sharp pebbles from Jester's newly conjured slingshot pattered off the wall he was standing in front of moments before. Lucky dashed up to it, dislodged her cards, and darted off right as Nightlight used the wall as a launching pad. "Teen. Agers. Oh my God." There was only one person that could stop this potential massacre. And it wasn't a sleepy toymaker, or an Australian bunny, or any of the other Guardians that weren't involved in the fray.

Glancing around the dummy, Cupid made sure he wasn't in any mortal danger. They weren't even looking his way. If only he had his bow... But that was no matter. All that mattered now was getting a hold of her. Cupid dashed through the door, happy to not hear the sound of anything being imbedded behind him. Without looking back, he dashed over to the nearest yeti and flagged him down.

"_Du forstår dansk_(3)?" he asked. The yeti looked at him blankly. Oh well. It was worth a shot. "English?" The yeti grunted and nodded, his dirty white hair swishing around. "Okay. Listen, this is really important." The yeti leaned in. "First off, get some conditioner ASAP!" He jumped and gasped, offended. "More importantly, I need the Leprechaun Queen. Like, now." The yeti nodded and lumbered down the hall. Crashes echoed out of the training room. "NOW!"

Cupid waited outside the door, cringing at every yell and clatter and smash. He had never been good with kids (unless he was watching them from behind an arrow), even ones that were almost adults at one point and now hundreds of years old. That was what Oonagh had always been there for. And never had he needed her more... A sudden _clack _reverberated through the hall, making Cupid jump as the _clack_s continued and the Leprechaun Queen threw open the door. Cupid followed, and a few steps in Oonagh stopped and did a loud and stern dance. With every clomp of her shoes, green sparks showered the ground around her feet and after a few seconds of the harsh dance all the combatants found themselves frozen in place.

Without talking, Oonagh slowly made her way throughout the room to each person. First, she plucked Nightlight's spear, then Jester's pins, then Jack's staff, then Katherine's knives, and Lucky's cards. Upon arriving at Sam, Oonagh swatted the back of her head and stomped, causing another shower of green sparks to pepper the floor. Everyone unfroze, including this higher up, who fell to the ground. Oonagh kicked all their weapons away, put her hands on her hips, and glared.

"Hey," Jack said again.

"This place looks like a pack o' wolves mistook it for a bunny matin' ground," she said, voice stoic.

"Right," Jester said, his tone low.

"Wanna tell me why?" she prodded, cocking her brow.

"Pitch is back," Katherine answered, straigtening her disheveled coat out. Once again, Nightlight nodded, as did everyone else.

"Well that doesn' sound good." More nodding. "But we don' fight to the death. Understand?" Her stoic face had finally cracked, and it revealed an expression of anger, like when an older sister walks in on her little sibling reading her diary. Never had the nodding been more enthusiastic. "Good. Now, do ya wanna know how ta _really _fight?"

Cupid was able to go back and get his bow while Oonagh trained them, and none ever strayed from her orders and her shocking green gaze.

* * *

With the final dab, North felt a sense of completion that he always got when he finished a toy. The only difference was that this was by far the most massive and impressive toy he'd ever built, and it had a life of its own. It had surpassed all of the Guardian of Wonder's other creations and soared to the top of his favorite list, and he watched with a tired pride. All the yetis patted the jolly man on the back as they passed and gazed at the finished product, mainly being thankful that he could get back to the toys that could actually be given to children. Soon enough, most cantered off to bed or the kitchen for snacks, and only a couple energetic yetis were in the workshop with him.

North was prepared to go join his slumbering servants, plans blossoming in his head for a smaller scale train set for the children. Perhaps this one could correspond to different biomes and therefore be more relatable to his faithful believers. He was mentally pairing different habitats up- beaches, coastal and rainforest; desert, mediterranean scrub, and moutains- when he heard the silky voice behind him.

"Hello, North." The addressed man spun around and groped at his sides, hoping to feel his swords. He, like Cupid, had gotten caught up in his work and left them who-knows-where.

"Relax," Pitch insisted, sounding hurt. "I don't wish to fight here."

"But you will!" North boomed, turning the remaining yetis' heads. "If only I had my swords and I could cut you in half before any damage."

"The damage comes later," Pitch went on, opting to look at his fingertips as opposed to his furious opponent. "Today is just a warning."

"I shall give you a warning!" North's voice was like thunder, but the Nightmare King didn't flinch.

"I have a different plan than last time," Pitch continued, ignoring the Guardian's threat. "I personally find it much more efficient. Last time was more practice for this, really." North's eyes widened at the thought of the last epic battle being nothing more than a warm-up. "I don't expect to lose anymore. In fact, I won't _let _myself lose anymore." Pitch's eyes darted to North's, and his lips curled into a demonic smile. "I wish you well in the dark ages to come. Consider this a prologue." He swept his hand through the air by the train set, sand pouring from his fingers and creating a tidal wave on North's creation. It easily demolished everything as it continued on its destructive course, until finally all the sand and bits of wonder drifted off the side and swirled into itself, into nothingness. North, slightly shaking, stumbled over to his prize and fumbled with its few remains. Pitch laughed at his opponent's horrified and broken expression, then disappeared fluently into the shadow.

North picked up half a marquee from the city and watched as it turned to dust in his hands. Those kids wanted some training? Now he was ready to get destructive, too.

**Author's Note: 1- well, the second word is hormones. 2- Holy crap 3- "Do you understand Danish?"**

**Also, Oonagh's name is pronounced oo-nah. In case you were wondering.**

**So yeah, forever since I updated, sorry. But this was a pretty good chapter...? I really am sorry. I was about halfway through, then I saw one of my specialshipping pictures, then I'm like SPECIALSHIPPING BINGE and then after binging I'm like MUST GET TO THE PART WHERE RED FINDS OUT YELLOW'S A GIRL and then I did and then I wrote this.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	15. Chapter 14

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: So I'm gone for a weekend. Come home, one email. Gone for three hours... five emails. What is wrong with this picture.**

**I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG (something totally different wrong.) I haven't updated in forever. Again. I'm sorry, but two words: Fire Emblem (Sacred Stones, to be exact.) Two other words: CHAPTER FREAKING FIVE (okay, that COULD'VE been two words.) So yeah. That's why I was gone.**

**Thank you to Maddie, SongOfTheBirds, Savage Kill, Guest (LET OUT YOUR INNER FANGIRL MAN she says as she depserately hopes she actually has a fangirl. Wait that might be bad...), Doc, CelticGirl7 (SYMBOLS OF PEACE BEING DESTROYED FOR THE WIN), Llatias, TheJoyousCrosser, and ashthetyto for reviewing!**

**Oh yeah. And there's one part of this chapter that will either be super good or super confusing. See, it looks really cool in my head, but I'm not sure if I can transfer it to paper... yeah. We'll see.**

**Disclaimer: ... Yeah you know who I've got.**

Chapter 14

"Lucky! Get out of bed!" Bed? What on earth was this overly excited voice saying? Lucky had never even _gotten _to bed that night... or had she? "Lucky. Wake up." Oonagh had kicked her pretty hard during training... and man, those hard shoes _hurt_... "LUCKY. SERIOUSLY."I mean, who thought of that, anyway? Putting blocks of wood on the toe and heel of a shoe so you could dance/kick the crap out of someone with it?

Lucky soon realized that little feathered feet could hurt just as much as the aforementioned blocks of wood.

"I'M UP!" she exclaimed, snapping up.

"Sorry," Tooth said apologetically. "It's just that North is inviting a bunch of boys over for a guy's night- I have no idea why- and he was hoping that you could go ask Sam if stay in Fearfall."

"Spend a night?" Lucky asked, cocking her brow. "In Fearfall?"

"Maybe, if you put seven locks on the door and then sprinkle your luck around like salt, she won't scare in the middle of the night!" Tooth suggested. Lucky smirked and kicked the enormous comforter off.

"I think I'll just try asking nicely." _Probably won't work, though._

"I would let you stay at my palace," Tooth explained as they exited the room, "but it's designed for people who can fly. Sorry. And I guess you could _try _Oonagh-"

"NO." After yesterday- easily the most miserable day of her life- Lucky had had enough of that drill sargeant Leprechaun Queen for awhile.

"Or maybe Daisy-"

"Also sounds like a bad idea." Lucky liked Daisy, but she certainly didn't want to spend the night in a pyramid with a whiny 9-year-old.

"Then have fun in Fearfall!" Tooth concluded, flitting down the hall. Lucky hadn't even noticed that they arrived at the gravesite.

It was just as eerily beautiful as she remembered it. She couldn't help but mentally pat Daisy on the back as she passed the cherry blossoms and black roses, but still what mesmerized her most was the tomb itself. The candles were the exact length as before, always glowing but never melting the wax or flickering out. The artificial moon- was it even artificial?- was completely covered- due to the arrival of the Nightmare King, no doubt- and Lucky was unable to look at the tombstone in the flickering candlelight. The new Guardian shrugged; she'd have to remember to bother someone about that later. For now, she had to knock on the shadowed stone and descend the stairs that followed.

At the foot of the stairs lay a little pumpkin, its face scribbled on, like a child did it. Lucky knelt down to look at it, screaming when it started cackling.

"Gotcha!" Sam laughed through the pumpkin's mouth.

"You suck," Lucky snapped, dusting her fancy clothes off.

"I kinda do, don't I? However, I am also the person you are staying with tonight as the boys do stupid stuff, so let's just have fun and crap!"

"I'm all for that," Lucky replied, wondering if the witch would throw her a mini-party.

"Good. In a little while." The spirit of luck cocked her head. "I've got some stuff to do, but then I'm all your's. A bunch of bats will magically appear when I'm done with this and show you to your house... room... thing."

"'Cause if you don't welcome people with bats, you just shouldn't welcome them at all."

"Exactly! Anyway, just stay in there, and DO NOT COME ON MAIN STREET. You got that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. See ya!" Then the pumpkin exploded into a cloud of orange powder, coating Lucky's face and making her spit out of irritation and necessity. In another second, the screech of bats deafened her, and the beating of their wings as they dashed past her certainly didn't help. Nevertheless, she scurried after them, trying to keep up as they led her to her temporary house. They all disappeared next to a brick townhouse, like all those around it, and Lucky assumed she'd arrived.

But Lucky didn't feel like going in there yet. Knowing Sam, it would probably be booby-trapped with swinging axes in the foyer or something. Where was it that the witch had forbidden she go? Main Street? So Lucky would explore, simply avoiding that place. Easy enough.

There were many more townhouses just like her's lining the cobblestone streets, orange pumpkins peeping from behind the brick to add another splash of warm color. She had yet to run into any of the storied zombie army, but she wasn't really complaining. Having a conversation with the undead didn't seem very enticing. Or possible, for that matter. Nevertheless, Fearfall was an interesting place and Lucky was able to occupy herself fairly easily. She didn't even notice when she passed a wooden sign, elegantly painted with the words 'Main Street'.

"What are they doing now?" she heard Sam say. It was around this time the spirit of luck realized she'd infringed on the rules, but hey, she was already there. Might as well stay and eavesdrop.

"They're painting each others' nails and talking about boys," a scratchy voice answered. Wait, what?

"Ha ha. Very funny. Well, except for Cupid... he probably is doing that... Anyway, be serious."

"Truth or Dare."

"You're screwing me."

"I screw you not."

"So even guys' nights aren't immune... okay. Whatever. As long as Jester isn't doing anything stupid." Right as Lucky was pondering Sam's protective nature towards Jester, the witch released a heavy sigh.

"Are you going to do that thing again?" the voice asked. Finally deciding to look around the corner, and nearly jumped when she saw the words come from the mouth they did. It was a scarecrow, with a 18th-century hat and stretched stitches trying to keep his mouth shut and failing very badly.

"Going to do what?" Sam inquired.

"Dance a jig."

"Your sarcasm is very much appreciated, Crow."

"Obviously, since you're using it now." Sam scowled and the talking scarecrow, Crow apparently, switched to serious mode. "I mean are you gonna sing."

_Sing? _Lucky asked, her brow mentally cocked.

"No! Well... yes."

"Then go ahead and get it out of you. I'll leave you alone."

"Thanks, man. And when I'm done I'll start hanging out with Lucky."

"But not before I jump at her window," Crow said with a grin.

"Haha! Yes!"

_Joke's on you, Stitches_ Lucky thought with a grin of her own.

"Well, have fun with your little dance number."

"It's not a dance number!" Sam argued, crossing her arms. "It's a _singing _number."

"Mmhmm. Right. Have fun with that." And he was gone, much faster than a scarecrow should be able to move. Then again, they shouldn't be able to move at all... or talk, for that matter.

Lucky was interrupted by music, consuming Main Street and coming from nowhere. She recognized it from a play she'd snuck into while she was in Vegas. Noticing that Sam was turning towards her, Lucky darted to a tree and scrambled into its orange and red branches, giving her a good view of the witch while being hidden herself. Sam opened her mouth, and the voice that came out was nice, but certainly wasn't the most beautiful Lucky had ever heard. However, it was powerful and full of feeling, leaving Lucky leaning forward and endangering herself of falling.

_On my own, pretending he's beside me_

_All alone, I walk with him 'til morning_

Her eyes were closed and her mouth curved into a slight smile. With a snap, a misty figure appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

_Without him, I feel his arms around me_

_And when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me_

_In the rain_-

With another snap, the figure disappeared and Lucky felt rain drops falling through the leaves. Before he vanished, though, she saw the telltale hat in his messy hair.

-_the pavement shines like silver_

_All the lights_-

Another snap and every streetlamp on the street ignited.

-_are misty in the river_

_In the darknes, the trees are full of starlight_

Luckily, the stars above them simply got brighter instead of the trees losing all their leaves. Sam's eyes were open now and she was indeed spinning and dancing as she sang.

_And all I see is him and me forever and forever!_

Suddenly, the smile was gone. Well, not gone, persay. But it was as if her face cracked, as if her fake happiness was being broken through by her very real sorrow. In fact, everything about Sam seemed to drain as the next words tumbled forth in an emotional flood.

_And I know it's only in my mind_

_That I'm talking to myself and not to him_

_And although I know that he is blind_

_Still I say_-

Her expression wasn't sad anymore. Now it was something like... hope.

-_for us_

And it cracked again.

_I love him, but when the night is over_

_He is gone, the river's just a river_

_Without him, the world around me changes_

_The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers_

Sam seemed almost hysterical now, wrapping her arms around herself and eyes wide as she lamented about her impossible love.

_I love him, but everyday I'm learning_

_All my life I've only been pretending_

She crouched down, holding her head in her hands as she belted out what Lucky guessed were the worst words for her to ever hear.

_Without me, his world will go on turning_

_His world that's full of happiness that I have never known!_

The last word was so powerful that it left a ring that echoed through Main Street the entire length of the silence that followed it. During that silence, Sam rose up slowly and looked blankly ahead.

_I love him._

This was said with no emotion.

_I love him._

This time there was a crack in her voice as well as her face, as if it was the first time she ever realized it.

_I love him._

And this was the worst of all. It was a sigh of hopelessness, of resignation, and Lucky felt a tear slip down her cheek even after she'd been able to hold them back all the song.

_But only on my own._

The rain stopped and the lights dimmed as Sam hung her head. Without thinking, Lucky jumped from her branch and stared at the slumped witch. She looked up, unsurprised.

"He'll never love me," she said with such conviction that Lucky didn't question her. "Before you say anything, I assure you that he'll never love me." And then she broke down into tears and it turned into a real sleepover.

**Author's Note: Chill your buns guys. You'll find out why Jester and Sam's love will supposedly never be. In fact, next chapter is the PAST CHAPTER! YAYYYYY!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	16. Chapter 15

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: This is getting closer to the end. There's... some small number of chapters left. CLIMAX FTDUBS!**

**Thank you to Doc (or Samster), JustPlainOldMe (HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THAT YOU'RE RIGHT), Luna (glad you liked it XD), Savage Kill (it was indeed Jester, but I never did totally specify that, so it's alright if you didn't get it), ashthetyto (aww :'( I didn't mean for you to cry), Jinxed dragonfly (your OTP? Another milestone as an author. Yeahhhh), bbymojo (Aw! Thanks so much, man! You have no idea how happy your review made me, and I can't thank you enough for that because I REALLY need some happiness right now. And... there's actually more to Lucky than you think), Llatias (ERMERGERD YERS), Motaku1235 (YOU'LL FIND OUT THIS CHAPTER), Dragoneisha (WHY AM I MAKING ALL THESE PEOPLE CRY WITHOUT MEANING TO?! And thanks :) ), and TheJoyousCrosser for reviewing!**

**And oh yeah! I totally forgot. The song, in case you didn't know, is On My Own from Les Miserables. I don't own that masterpiece or anything.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Chapter 15

"Saaaammmmm!" Due to its location underground, Fearfall wasn't accessible to anyone unless you could teleport or if you got Sam to let you in. That is, unless you're the controller of everything Earth, in which case you can enter at will, as with most places. "Sam! I brought you some chocolate!" Sam was busy sobbing her eyes out with a desperate Lucky trying to comfort her, all the time waiting for Tooth to come back with more tissues and demanding to know where Oonagh and Katherine (the maternal figures) were, when Daisy sprouted up from the ground like the flowers she adored.  
"C-c-chocolate?" Sam asked, head poking up from Lucky's shoulder.  
"Yeah! Here ya go!" Daisy groped the folds of her dress, finally pulling out a brown and green cacao bean. Sam released a fresh round of sobs.  
"IF YOU THINK THAT'S CHOCOLATE YOUR ETERNAL CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN SO DEPRIVEDDDD!"  
"Did I do something wrong?" Daisy mumbled.  
"No, dear!" Lucky exclaimed, gasping slightly. Sam had a firm grip around her neck and she wasn't looking ready to let go anytime soon. "That's very sweet, just not what Sam needs right now."  
"Okay..."  
"Sam!" Tooth burst onto the scene, practically juggling the tissue boxes her fairies had helped her get. The Halloween spirit looked up and, with a flick of her wrist, magically yanked the boxes from her and began blowing her nose, as efficient as an assembly line.  
"What are we gonna do?" Lucky whispered to Tooth, who shrugged helplessly. The spirit of luck sighed. "Listen, Sam, I know you're afraid-"  
"I AM NOT AFRAID!" she argued, head jolting up. "I am Sam Hain, and I make people fear, not do it myself!" She sniffles. "I'm just a little upset, that's all."  
"Well we got that," Lucky replied with a twinge if irritation. Suddenly, Baby Tooth joined them, chittering urgently to her mistress. Sam had told Crow to let whoever in, and Crow said what about Pitch, and Sam said screw it all he'll never love me.  
"The boys have broken into Tooth Palace and are using the Memory Projector?" Tooth exclaimed. Baby Tooth nodded.  
"What is that idiot doing?" Sam sneered, wiping her nose.  
"They're looking at the memories!" the Tooth Fairy all but repeated. A broom flew past her and into Sam's hand.  
"Let's crash their party. I was probably going to do it anyway."  
_Not long earlier..._  
"Truth," North decided after about five minutes of mental negotiation.  
"Why did you actually have this party?" Jack asked with a grin.  
"Fine! I am sad about train and want to get my mind off it."  
"And?" Everyone knew it was true, they just wanted to hear the jolly man say it.  
"... And I don't want to work on Christmas toys."  
"And the truth comes out!" Jack exclaimed dramatically as everyone else clapped.  
"Alright Jack," Jester began, stroking his chin. "Truth or dare?"  
"Dare."  
"Oh ho ho! You won't like my dares, my friend." The chin-stroking resumed. "I dare you... to go to the biggest casino you can find and freeze all the money!"  
"No way man," Jack replied with a laugh. "Lucky would kill me." Jester conjured up a whip and snapped at the ground at his friend's feet, to the rest of the boys' uproarious laughter.  
"You can whip me anytime, bell boy," Cupid purred.  
"Why did we invite 'im again?!" Bunny demanded.  
"I knew you would say that," Jester explained with a snicker "Alright Diapers-"  
"That was one time!" Cupid exclaimed.  
"Alright so-I-wore-diapers-this-one-time, it's your turn. Truth or dare?"  
"Truth." Everyone groaned. Putting these two bisexual hipsters in a game of truth or dare should've, in hind sight, been avoided at all costs. This was obviously going to end in a love confession and the April Fool's oddest prank yet.  
But it became clear that that wasn't how it was going to go down at all. Cupid's face became serious all at once, and the look he was giving Jester had anything but lust.  
"I shot you and Victoria with an arrow."  
"What's the 'sposed to mean?" Bunny asked. Jester looked like he didn't need an explanation.  
"You did that?" he whispered.  
"You were perfect," Cupid went on, sounding borderline desperate. "Straight through the heart, a perfect shot. But Victoria... I missed. Well, almost missed. It just grazed her. Her love wasn't strong enough to stand against death."  
"But when I was alive..."  
"Yeah, she loved you then."  
"Uh, I think I missed something," Jack finally interrupted. Everyone nodded.  
"I'll show you then," Jester exclaimed, jolting up."You're my bro, Frosty, and I guess you all deserve to know about me before I became... this."  
"How do you want to do that?" North asked, genuinely curious about Jester's past as well as how it was to be revealed.  
"Uh..." A chorus of four elves being shaken violently interrupted what probably would've only been silence anyway and everyone turned to Sandy, who they'd forgotten about upon realizing he couldn't play Truth or Dare.  
"What is it, my friend?" North asked. An image of the boxes of teeth appeared, followed by an old-fashioned projector.  
"Oh yeah!" Bunny recalled. "Tooth said somethin' 'bout makin' a memory projector, so more than one person could watch the memories. Dunno why she would make somethin' like that, though, 'less she wanted to gossip 'bout memories with her fairies..."  
"Gentleman," Jester announced, "if that is indeed the case, then we are going to break into Tooth Palace."

* * *

The little fairies didn't quite know what was going on. They had that feeling you get when you know you're supposed to be doing something, you're just not sure what it is. All they were really sure of is that Jack's hoodie was on the ground, right in front of them, and that they were mesmerized.  
"This plan is stupid," Jack muttered to Jester.  
"Hey," his best friend replied, "at least you had a shirt on underneath it!" Yes, he did, and it happened to be the same shirt he died in. It was still cold without the hoodie, even by his standards, even after 300 years.  
"Let's find the projector," Cupid said, motioning them onward. By now, there was a small army of fairies fangirling over the hoodie, and they were quickly being joined by the remainder of their feathery ranks. Soon, there were no obstacles, and the boys began their search.  
The theater wasn't hard to find. After all, this place was made for birds (leaving Bunny and North to ride with Sandy), and there was only one large room that could work for cinematic purposes. It was Cupid who found it, and after calling everyone over, they entered.  
It was a dark room, like any theater, and it had no seats. The only things there were a screen, darkened by the lack of light, and an old-fashioned projector on a table. It looked like anything you would see in the movies, but there was an octagonal hole where the rolls of film would normally go.  
"I'll find my teeth," Jester muttered, darting out of the room.  
"I'll go too," Cupid added, flying out behind him. They were back in a few minutes- the teeth were extremely organized and both boys remembered the human names- and Jester skid his in without saying a word.  
"What you're about to see," he whispered to Jack, "is why I advise you to stay away from Lucky."

* * *

Etienne Lee was a familiar face. Or, rather, half a face. The boy with the French mother and the American father had scruffy black hair, small brown eyes, and a smile that was constantly dilating with laughter. He was a popular boy, as the flashbacks showed; he was always making people laugh, pranking them but being so adorable that they couldn't stay mad for long.  
Jack found it rather familiar.  
One of the longer flashbacks showed the leader of the town, Etienne's uncle, greeting a family, the Peddingtons, that had recently sailed over from England. It was a couple and their only child, a 16-year-old girl. Victoria Peddington and Etienne Lee couldn't take their eyes off each other.  
More flashbacks showed the two as their relationship progressed. In all of them, she was laughing.  
"Why do you love me?" Etienne asked at one point, his voice twinged with a French accent from his mother.  
"Because of your sense of humor," she replied.  
There was another flash forward. This time, Etienne was leading a few of his friends to an abandoned barn near the edge of the village. It was October, and nearly Victoria's birthday, and he promised her the prank of her life. (Surprisingly, she had a mild obsession with anything scary.)  
"Why all the candles?" one of his friends, Daniel, asked.  
"We've got to make it look like a Satanic ritual or something," Etienne replied excitedly.  
"Isn't that a sin?" one of his other friends, Robert, prodded in a worried tone.  
"A sin would not be giving Victoria the scare of her life on her birthday," Etienne replied, somewhat sadistically. The leader began instructing the other boys to put candles in certain places, as well as search chests for scary things the creepy old lady that died in the house left behind. Etienne was upstairs with two other boys when he heard a shriek.  
It was an accident, one of the boys said. Calm down, what was? The candle! I dropped it!  
Sure enough, a wall burst into flames.  
Etienne ordered the clumsy boy to go downstairs and get everyone out while he looked upstairs for anyone else. He did just that, and a minute later the other lad from upstairs leapt through the front door. Everyone crowded around whatever openings there were, waiting for their beloved leader, waiting for Etienne. And they saw him. They watched as he ran towards safety, skipping over the multitude of burning coals, and cheered him on as he neared them.  
And Etienne Lee almost made it.  
But the last image that appeared was a burning plank crashing onto one side of his face.  
"It would've been such a great prank," Jester laughed as the screen went black. "Too bad that idiot had to drop a candle."  
"That doesn't really explain anything," Jack snorted.  
"Fine," Jester sighed, "if I have to spell it out for you. What Cupid over here confessed is that he shot arrows and crap at Victoria and I, which is why we acted like idiots on the screen. Apparently, though, the arrow only grazed her and that's why she called me- and I quote- a 'stupid, immature, chuckling Frenchmen who I never really loved in the first place' after I died. I was kinda hoping that was just her twisted way if coping, but hey, a missed target works too."  
"She did love you in life, though," Cupid assured.  
"You're not helping."  
"I just thought you two looked cute together!"  
"We were freaking adorable, but she's dead now and died hating me, so it doesn't really matter." Jester laughed, and from that empty laugh Jack learned a lot about his best friend. "You know why I always liked laughter so much?" Jester whispered, his lips suddenly at Jack's ear. "Because it's the perfect crime. It makes you think everything's fine when it's actually falling apart."

"You're being so immature about this," Cupid, who had overheard, scolded. "I understand that you're bitter because she stopped loving you, but would it have been better if she was never happy again?" There was a moment of silence as Jester contemplated his answer.

"Maybe." Cupid let out a little yell before ripping Jester's teeth from the projector and inserting his own.

* * *

Hinrick Skoffsoe wasn't quite sure of his age when he found himself on the dirt road with a painted woman towering over him, but he must've been somewhere in his early teens. Either way, he was glad he found himself sooner rather than later.

He was going to the post office to see if there was any news of his father, a sailor. His sister had stayed at home with her baby, ashamed to step outside (even though she supposedly loved the father) because she wasn't married. It was a little hot, and the sun was fighting to stay above the horizon, and Hinrick's touseled blonde was dotted with beads of sweat. Nonetheless, there was no denying how handsome he was (even with his big hands and dirty clothes), and that must've been why the prostitute took such an interest in him.

He was on his way home (no letter, of course) when he discovered he was being followed. The sun had given up and there was only a sliver of it left, leaving most of the sky and the road just dark enough that you had a hard time seeing. But Hinrick had that feeling. The one when you're being watched. The one where you can tell you're in trouble, but you can't stop it.

A chill was sent up his spine as he felt the dirty fingernails of the prostitute crawl up his back. She whispered something in his ear, but her voice was so seductive that he had a hard time understanding what she was saying. Hinrick took a step forward, mumbling about how he needed to get home, when her nails dug into his back as she pushed him down.

He heard her hiss something about making him not have to pay.

It was then that two muscular arms wrapped around her waist and threw her to the side, screaming at her to spread her infidelity elsewhere. The same muscular hand reached out to pull Hinrick up, gently apologizing for what almost happened to him. His hair was brown and long, and his green eyes were glittering in the darkness.

His name was Peder, and he wasn't much older than Hinrick.

Just as with Etienne, flashbacks showed Hinrick and Peder's relationship evolve. This included his sister kicking him out after finding out, as well as Hinrick's last visit to the post office with Peder, where there was still no letter. After a certain amount of time elapsed- around ten years, Cupid explained- there was an announcement that a ship would be setting sail for America. The country was labeled a land of oppurtunity, and the couple could only hope they would be accepted there.

Luckily, the pair had never had much need for money, and they were able to afford to tickets with a little extra work. They boarded the ship as friends wanting to start a business in America, and were able to befriend many of the other passengers as well. The ship was cramped, and they had very little time together, but Hinrick and Peder knew that they would have plenty of time when they hit land.

But if your lover is sleeping and no one's around to watch, it wouldn't hurt for a certain Danish blonde to give him a light kiss, would it?

It wouldn't, except Hinrick wasn't alone at all.

But I suppose that your lover pushing through the angry mob that threw you overboard, hoping to catch you at the last minute, isn't a bad last thing to see.

* * *

"WAHHHHHH!" All the men jumped upon realizing that not only had the girls snuck in and seen everything, but also that Mother Nature was bawling and potentially causing an earthquake on some unfortunate tectonic plate.

Lucky had found the first part of Cupid's memories familiar, but she hadn't gotten saved. (Perhaps the Man in the Moon liked almost-rape victims?)

"We snuck in while you and Cupid were yelling at each other," Sam explained to Jester.

"Gotcha."

"What the point of this is," Cupid explained, "is that Peder never found anyone again. The other passengers thought I kissed him without his permission, and that's why they let him live but threw me overboard. Anyway, he was never happy again. He was eternally sad, and even when I stabbed an arrow through his heart he..." Everyone was silent as Cuppid dug his hands in his pockets. "He never loved again." The pair of brown eyes met the one brown eye and one artificial one. "My arrows can't do everything, Jester, and I would've much rather watched him love again."

"WAHHHHHH!" Daisy wailed again. Tooth and Lucky wrapped their arms around the little girl, hoping to prevent any casualties. Sam grinned, imagining what the Man in the Moon was thinking when he put the entirety of the planet's well-being in the hands of a whiny, over-emotional 9-year-old.

"My turn," she sang, throwing Cupid's teeth to him and inserting her own.

"You do realize that's my projector, right?" Tooth asked, brow cocked.

**Author's Note: That's next update. Can't write anymore. Gonna play Fire Em- oh God someone take this game away from me.**

**Thank's for reading and WHAT DO YOU MEAN L'ARACHEL AND RENNAC DIDN'T GET MARRIED.**


	17. Chapter 16

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: So then this'll happen and then this'll happen and... oh God. Then **_**that **_**happens. That'll be fun. You guys will have a ball with that. And by "ball" I mean flip a table.**

**Thank you to CelticGirl7 (that was kinda just supposed to be an implied canon XD Oonagh and Bunny are too old for backstories), Katyuana (I shall ensure that Pitch suffers for the crimes he's committed against the fanfiction community :}), Doc (actually, Aqua thought of a ship name awhile ago. You ready for this? You ready? Okay... JACKPOT!), Llatias (they're good at hiding it XD Jester would be embarassed for Sam to see his if she didn't already know), Motaku1235 (I KNOW AS I WAS WRITING THAT I'M LIKE I'M SO SORRY PEDER AND HINRICK I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON), I'm secretly annoyed with you (well, as much as I support doing well in school, YAY I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE LIKE MY STUFF!) Jinx (SURPRISE!), and Guest (SURPRISE AS WELL) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I own my OCs yada yada yada.**

Chapter 16

Sybil Payne(1) was a witch.

It was never confirmed, so no one ever acted on their suspicions, but it was an accepted truth. Why else would someone be so obsessed with scaring people, and so not obsessed with marrying and the like?

Nonetheless, Sybil was a likable member of the fiefdom. She was beloved by her family, even though they bickered about her wasted maple waves and shocking green eyes. But it was her cousins that adored her the most, despite the fact that they got the brunt of her scares. You're my favorite, Sybil would tell them; they assumed that's why she only invited them to the cave on the edge of the village for what she said would be the scare of their lives.

And even though Sabina screamed at the ants on the road, and Nicola didn't like her astoundingly logical view on life to be interrupted by Sybil's otherworldly scares, they decided to go. Perhaps it was because the 1300s were hard, and the world needed all the life it could get. Perhaps that's why the witch died that day under a rock and not burning on a stake.

And the music of the cave was composed of dripping water and fluttering bats and echoing breathing, evil breathing from the devil, and it was the music that gave the witch life. And this was the music that the witch herself composed, for she knew how to maximize fear. It was one of her many talents. Tell them ahead if time about a scare; it'll make them anxious, distrustful. They'll hear things that aren't there, see things the mind wouldn't conjure in any other scenario.

And so Sabina screamed at a bat rustling overhead, causing the eerie music to be interrupted by the staccato beat of pebbles, then rocks raining from the ceiling.

"Is this Sybil?" Sabina asked, covering her head against the stones.

"She wouldn't do this," Nicola argued. "We need to leave."

"Not without Sybil!" The two stared at one another for a moment before rooting their feet to the rocky ground. They wouldn't leave without their cousin; they wouldn't leave without the witch.

Suddenly the air was bats, bats sucking all the oxygen for themselves and causing the girls to scream, increasing the size of the rocks falling in the process. But in a moment they were gone, and Nicola and Sabina expected silence, which they did not get. Instead they heard the breathing of the devil, and it was right behind them, and they dashed out of the cave without even looking in it's direction.

The place where the cousins refused to look was the hiding place of none other than Sybil Payne, who got up with an air of satisfaction. It was new, scaring with only sound, but it had certainly wielded positive results. She stepped forward to exit the cave as well, only to be thrown back by a falling boulder. She shook her head; she wasn't going to be that lucky again, and acknowledged that. So Sybil trotted back to her hiding spot and slid down the wall, finally stopping her downward journey on a bed of fallen rocks. Her eyes wandered to a cheeping sound next to her, and she smiled at a bat refusing to fly.

"Hello, friend," she cooed, scooping him up in her hand. He nipped her fingertip, but nothing seemed to hurt anymore. "Will you stay with me?"

The little bat never got to answer. A boulder shook free of its rocky prison and let gravity do the dirty work, and the witch died with a grin, the irony of the phrase "I neither drown nor burn" serenading her to sleep.

* * *

"That's my Sam," Jester laughed, slapping the spirit of fear on the back. "Always saving little girls from cave-ins and stuff!" Jack coughed emphatically, but no one paid any attention. His backstory became common knowledge after the last battle with Pitch; that's what he got when he told it in detail to a gossiping fairy.

"What can I say?" Sam sighed, shrugging dramatically. "Saving lives and causing heart attacks are my specialties."

"I guess since we're just looking at _everyone's _memories now," Tooth exclaimed, pulling out a box, "let's look at Lucky's memories!"

"Wait, what?" the spirit of luck muttered.

"Is that a problem?" Sam asked, snatching the teeth and pulling her own out.

"Um... I guess not."

"Yay! Last one."

* * *

Ethel Josephine Farmer had every sign that her life would be fine. Her father was a successful, intelligent doctor; her mother was beautiful and the ideal housewife. And she could've been prettier, like her mother, but that was fine. She was shy and didn't have as many nice clothes as some of her friends, but that was fine. Everything was fine. It was just as predicted.

But her mother had a problem: she liked things that weren't her's. The only exception was her husband; yes, she was faithful. But when they outlawed alcohol, something she was already fond of, she began to lose it. Elizabeth Farmer used to only drink occasionally, but once it became illegal to do so, she began to do so more often. This coupled with gambling, and Elizabeth soon found herself falling prey to the seduction of nightlife. It was then that Joseph Farmer divorced her, a rather dire but necessary measure.

For some reason, the woman still wanted custody of her daughter. The couple eventually settled on the mother having the daughter every other weekend. Through this she lived off of alimony and found sadistic joy in bringing her daughter, growing more withdrawn by the day, to her speakeasies so she could steep in her immorality.

And suddenly it's 1922, and it's loud.

* * *

"Jack!" Lucky wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled back, interrupting the potential ice attack. He wasn't the only one threatening to destroy Tooth's screen; Sam, Jester, Bunny, Cupid, North, and even the fairy herself all looked ready to tear apart the image that had appeared moments before, and it made Lucky want to cry.

"It's not real," she whispered in his ear. "They're gone now. They're not here anymore."

"That's how you died?" he murmured, his voice cracking.

"Yeah."

"Did it hurt?" There was a pause.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"I am too." Everyone backed away from the screen and Lucky removed her teeth, handing them to a silent mini-fairy.

"Well that's one way to end guy's night," Jester exclaimed, throwing his arm around Jack's shoulder.

"Wanna know what's especially funny?" Lucky exclaimed, laughing maniacally. "Mom didn't even know I was gone! I gave her some luck so she got home without passing out. Sunday night Dad came to get me, and he says 'Where's Ethel?' And she says 'Ethel? You mean Shirley?' Then they argued that she decided on my name and she couldn't just change it. Finally he forces her to tell him where I was, and she doesn't know." She laughed again, and even Sam had to step back at the hysterical undertone. "They never found me, of course. And they never caught the boys that did that to me. No justice, I suppose, when you become a supernatural doll!"

"You calm down now," North said, stepping closer.

"I will _not _calm down!" she shouted, pulling out her cards. "Why should I? You all know that I was an ugly, self-conscious human girl that died because she was stupid enough to jump in front of a bullet meant for my attacker!"

"I don't think that's stupid." Everyone turned to Daisy, whose hair hung down over her face. She ran up to Lucky and wrapped her tiny arms around the girl's tinier waist. "I'm sorry you died. That sounds sad." Lucky sniffed and patted her on the back.

"It is. I'm glad you didn't have to."

"I am too," she said cheerfully, unwrapping her arms and rocking on her heels. "But why were you so scared of that man? He was just trying to thank you." A chorus of statements rang out at this, the loudest being Lucky's:

"OKAY THIS BULL SESSION(2) IS DONE." And so everyone went back to their respected places of residence, and the Guardians jumped through the snowglobe to decide what to do next.

* * *

They were greeted by Pitch.

"I come in peace," the Nightmare King said as they all readied their weapons. Indeed, there were no Nightmares around, and nothing was destroyed. "I just want to talk."

"What do you have to say to us?" North demanded, remembering the train set.

"I noticed that you were learning about your new Guardian, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about her exploits after death." A panicked noise escaped Lucky's throat, and Pitch's grin widened.

"I don't want to hear it," Jack sneered.

"Oh, but I think you do," Pitch laughed. "Do you mean you didn't tell them, Lady Luck? About how you would get so angry that you'd give someone enough bad luck to last a lifetime, even though they did nothing wrong? That _you_ contributed to the Stock Market Crash in the 30s? But, well, I'd understand if you didn't tell them about the things you did after sneaking into some of the rooms at your favorite casinos. Things that would put you on the naughty list for sure..."

That was more than enough to shift everyone's gaze from the Nightmare King to their own Guardian, and her face was turning red. But she did not break her gaze with the enemy.

"I must say, Miss Farmer, you were quite the lover. Frost-" She didn't let him finish. A dozen cards sliced through Pitch's body, and he looked at his wounds with shock. He coughed and wiped his mouth, his manic laugh cracking slightly at the pain. "Fine. I'll leave you to your 'friends' now." And he disappeared and Lucky was alone.

"Lucky," Tooth murmured, covering her mouth. Sandy shook his head and refused to look her in the eye.

"I expected better from ya, mate," Bunny sneered. North felt it was his turn.

"This is disgrace-"

"Oh, shove it." The words were said with such force that the entire room quieted immediately. "You've been believed in since your conception. You don't know what it's like to be invisible, to be beautiful and have no one to admire it. Don't pretend like you know what it's like to have people walk through you every day, grovel on their knees begging for your help only to turn around and blame all their problems on you!" She was crying now, her voice narrowing on hysteria for the second time that day. "You don't know what it's like to have the only person that's ever wanted you to be the man that _killed_ you! And yet you have the gumption to judge the only way that I could fill the gap that that unending loneliness left." She tore the bracelet from her wrist, glaring at the Guardians one more time. "And if it makes you feel better, it never helped." Then she threw it at the wall and stepped through.

"Uh," was all that could escape Tooth's mouth.

But Jack said nothing. Instead, he dashed through the closing portal and felt his own cool winds as he watched Lucky on a roof overlooking Las Vegas. He padded up behind her, but she didn't acknowledge him. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and felt her relax as he whispered:

"I know _exactly _what it feels like." A soft noise, sad and happy and confused, escaped Lucky once more, and she melted into his chest as they stared at the skyline of her home.

**Author's Note: 1- the last name Payne meant Pagan in the 1300s 2- make gossip session**

**A little short, but hey, lots of stuff happened. And fluff! Yay fluff.**

**Oh, and ladies, feel like you haven't been swooning enough lately? THEN TEACH ME HOW TO SCAN SO I CAN SHOW YOU A PICTURE MY FRIEND DREW OF HOT JESTER :}**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	18. Chapter 17

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Hmm... I know! I'll get in the bunker that I hid in when I- oh wait the fangirls destroyed that. Hm. Welp, guess I'm gonna wing it.**

**Thank you to Doc (JERK PITCH GO DIE NYEH), Savage Kill (yeah. Lucky's life kinda sucks.), Xxsnow dreamxX (thank you very much :D), Luna (well I kinda told you that I loved it very very much XD), Mac171100 (uh... um... that's embarassing. Excuse me as I go bash my head against a wall for not listening to my gut.), mr. unicorn (I think I have one built into my printer, but my friend took a picture and can email it to me if I ask her. Thanks :D), Jinx (DANG IT WHY DO I ALWAYS MAKE YOU CRY WHEN I DON'T MEAN TO I'M SORRY MAN), and bbymojo (if it's more Jackpot fluff you want, it's more Jackpot fluff you'll have!) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: OH MY GOSH THIS IS OBNOXIOUS. Oh, but the song that Jester sings is Luna's, so... yeah. Thanks for that man.**

Chapter 17

"You ready for this?" Jester whispered, as if preparing the young man in front of him for some important secret.

"Yeah!" Jamie exclaimed.

"You sure?"

"Jester, you've asked me six times already, and each time I've said yes!"

"You've counted," Jester laughed, conjuring a guitar, "and therefore proved that you are INDEED ready for this!" And so he played:

_Jingle bells, Santa smells  
Bunny laid an egg,  
Toothie flys  
On the slides  
While Sandy landed on his head!_

Jester ended on a high note that made Jamie laugh uncontrollably and caught Sophie's attention.

"Song!" she squealed as she tottered out of her house.

"Why, if it isn't the lovely Sophie!" Jester exclaimed, narrowly missing Jamie as he swung his guitar around dramatically. "Shall I serenade the most beautiful girl in the world?"

"I like lemonade!" she agreed, clapping and trying to get her hair out of her face at the same time.

"Then lemonade you shall have!" Jester exclaimed, the guitar disappearing in a burst of purple sparks and replaced by a sippee cup full of the drink.

"So you can conjure anything?" Jamie asked as his friend refreshed his sister. He'd asked the question before, but he never tired of hearing Jester's lengthy explanation.

"The Man in the Moon has blessed me, my friend," Jester began, throwing his arms around the boy's shoulder. "'Anything that has to do with pranks, the April Fool can use.' Those were his words. Well, probably. But he obviously didn't know me well enough, for Etienne Lee can make any item into a component of the best prank in the world!"

"You're name's Etienne?"

"And Lucky's is Ethel."

"I can see why she likes Lucky then."

"But enough of name mockery!" Jester said emphatically, releasing Jamie from his grasp. "There are many other types of mockery to be had HOLY CRAP A NIGHTMARE LOOK OUT."

At first, Jamie thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Jester pulled the younger boy out of the way just as one of Pitch's horses slammed into the ground, and he shooed him away as his juggling pins appeared in his hands. The first one was easy to kill; when twenty more appeared things started getting complicated.

"Either get inside or stay behind me!" Jester told the siblings. Jamie opted to grab his sister and hide behind a bush.

There wasn't really a good spirit to mess with. After all, Jester was among the weakest, and the seemingly endless wave of Nightmares wasn't proving that much a challenge. This was due to a new fighting style developed by the April Fool himself: throw the pins to get horses above you, conjure slingshot, shoot, make it disappear, catch pins, attack close enemies, repeat. It was efficient for this large number of Nightmares, but when it seemed like he beat them all, it soon became obsolete.

"Did I win?" Jester asked no one in particular, letting his arms hang at his side. "Man, I am AWESOME!"

"Jester," Jamie choked from his position behind the bush.

"Bad guy!" Sophie added, jumping up and down. The April Fool raised his pins just in time to block the Nightmare King's attack.

"You've always annoyed me," Pitch sneered, making a spear out of sand and thrusting.

"Everything annoys me, so you're nothing special," Jester countered, doing so with both words and pins.

"I must say, however," Pitch went on, continuing to thrust in the oddest ways, "you make the perfect target."

"I'm flattered," Jester laughed, dodging and landing a blow on the Nightmare King's head. He hardly flinched. "Mind telling me why? I need to sharpen my target-ee skills." The spear disappeared. Pitch's fingertips sharpened and he plunged them into Jester's stomach.

"I can't manipulate you with fear," the Nightmare King replied. "After all, she doesn't love you. So I'll just take your magic as it is."

"Oh crap," Jester squeaked.

"Jester!" Jamie screamed. Then Pitch's fingertips began to glow, and both of the April Fool's eyes widened. "What's going on?" he continued, knowing full well no one would answer.

And then Pitch removed his hand, and with it spilled the same purple sparks that Jester used when conjuring, and they flickered and died before hitting the ground. That isn't what caught the little boy's attention. Instead, it was the glowing blue light that Pitch held in his hand.

"Did I take the soul again?" he wondered aloud, toying with the ball of light. "Perhaps I should try not to do that next time."

And so the Nightmare King disappeared.

"Jester?" Jamie couldn't even bring his voice above a whisper. Jester let out the most pathetic cough the boy had ever heard, then collapsed onto the ground in front of him.

And, for the first time in history, there was no laughter anywhere in the world.

* * *

Jenna Maloney ran outside when she heard her little brother and their weird neighbor screaming. Really, she should've already been out there, since her sibling Dylan was her responsibility. But if he wanted to go outside in the snow because apparently some epic battle was going on between his imaginary friends, why should she stop him?

"What?" she sneered at her brother's back. The cold made her irritated. "Did your weird imaginary friend lose or something?" And then Dylan turned around, and his tears were the most authentic she'd seen in her life. "What-"

And she saw him, face-down on the pavement. She gasped at the sudden person unconscious on her street; she gasped again when she saw another person come out of a hole in the ground and scream a scream unlike any she'd ever heard before.

"JESTER!" the witch girl wailed, and she was at his side the next moment, holding the body to her chest and crying. Jamie and Dylan took a step forward, but didn't go any closer. Even Sophie Bennett, who always liked to get in everyone's business, stayed behind her brother.

Another hole opened behind the little girl, and Jenna nearly fainted; a huge rabbit emerged from it.

"Jester fell," Sophie told the newest addition to this startling scene.

"He certainly did," replied the rabbit. In an Australian accent. This was confusing, to say the least. With slow and purposeful steps, the bunny made his way to the witch, and whispered to her as he tried to coerce the body from her iron grip.

"No," she begged as he finally managed to get it away.

"'e needs to get to the Pole," the rabbit insisted, tapping the ground and making another hole. After adjusting the body he hopped in, and the witch scrambled after him.  
There was no trace that anything ever happened.

"What just happened." Jenna couldn't take it any longer.

"I..." Jamie gulped before continuing. "I think Pitch just killed Jester!"

* * *

"Him," Jack said, pointing to a pineapple-shirted tourist.

"Him?" Lucky repeated, unimpressed. "Why?"

"I like pineapples."

"You've never even been to the tropics!"

"No! I went to Sri Lanka once. It was awful."

"I'd think so, Mr. Spirit of winter!" Lucky laughed. She had calmed down since her last run-in with Pitch, and Jack wanted to see her work her luck more. She had brought him to a casino and let him pick who got Lady Luck on their side, and the place was packed, even though it was a little after ten in the morning.

"And pineapples are yummy. I choose him."

"Okay," Lucky conceded with a laugh. "Bur I warn you, the tourists that get lucky always come back hoping for more. He could become obsessed with gambling, and then his wife'll leave him and take the kids... You could be ruining his life, Jack."

"Then give him a lot!" His answer was as much of BS as her's was, and that's why she laughed again and kissed the (thankfully not sweaty) tourist on the cheek, giving him a perfect game for the rest of the night. (Note: He did not let gambling ruin his life; he bought his wife a special coat she'd been wanting with his winnings. Perhaps that what you get when Lady Luck's goofy(1).)

Suddenly, Baby Tooth fluttered into the casino, chirping frantically. She had to peck Jack's head repeatedly to take their attention off each other, and when he looked at her with surprise, she realized she didn't know what to do next.

"Hmm?" Jack questioned, his blue eyes wide. Lucky's were green now, her curious color. Baby Tooth looked around and flew towards a pole that was at the heart of the casino, pecking at it.

"Pole?" Lucky asked, cocking her head. "You want us to go to the Pole?" Baby Tooth nodded vigorously.

"Is it bad?" Jack asked, knowing yes-or-no questions were best. Another vigorous nod. As they headed outside to find a safe place for Lucky to throw her bracelet, Jack went on: "Why was there a random pole in there?"

"Uh..." Lucky yanked her bracelet off and threw it. "Oh, look, it's time to go, let's talk about this later!" Before he could protest, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him and Baby Tooth inside.

"There you are!" Cupid said as he ran up to them, looking very tired.

"What's going on?" Jack asked, eyes narrowing.

"It's Jester," Cupid replied, guiding them to the infirmary. "He was in Burgess with Jamie and..."

"And what?" Jack asked, his face grave. "He's my best friend, Cupid." But they were already at the door and the spirit of love didn't have to answer.

When Lucky opened the door (because Jack was busy glaring at Cupid and Cupid was busy trying to decide what to say to Jack), she didn't see Jester immediately. Instead, she was greeted by a crying Daisy in the corner, all the Guardians with grave looks on their faces, Katherine flipping through her story book urgently with Nightlight next to her (it was if she were looking for something), and the familiar sound of Sam weeping. She pushed through the numerous yetis that also occupied the room and gasped at what she saw on the bed: a shirtless Jester, with five holes in his stomach. His chest wasn't moving, but she had never checked to see if spirits really needed to breathe, so that wasn't an accurate sign that he was dead. Sam was kneeling by his bed, her head on the sheets as she clutched his lifeless hand and cried.

"What is-" Jack saw his best friend and immediately walked away; that was not something he wanted to see.

"MOVE." Only one voice could be that commanding, and the crowd seperated for the red-headed queen. Even Sam looked up- her eyes were a heartbreaking shade of red- and stepped back so Oonagh could declare her diagnosis. The loud clacking of her shoes ceased in front of the bed.

"What is it?" Sam asked, her voice quivering.

"Pitch has taken his magic," Oonagh told her, scanning the body.

"But that can't be it!" the witch exclaimed, standing up. "He would still be conscious if his magic was gone!"

"I'm not done." Sam sat down. "I've seen this 'fore. When he took the April Fool's magic, he also took... he took his soul." A noise that escaped the witch wasn't human. "He's nothin' but a shell now, and he most certainly won' be wakin' up in a body without a soul."

"Is there anything we can do?" Sam whispered, her mouth covered.

"Not without the soul, darlin'." Another noise escaped her, but this one was quieter.

"What do you mean?" This question came from Jack, who's expression became angrier and angrier.

"You been ta the grave here in the Pole?" He nodded. "I knew the lass it was for. 'er name was Magdeleine, and babies cry when comin' into this world because she's dead. She could coax 'em out of the womb smilin', and coax others outta the world without pain. She also visited the people she knew would become great and help them, or the ones that traveled down the wrong path she'd set straight. She could do anythin'. Pitch struck once, long ago. 'is target was Magdeleine. 'e caught her off guard and sucked the Life outta her, leavin' only death and pain. She was absorbed into 'im so quickly after that, like when Sandy became nothin' but black sand. She was the first of us to die."

"At least that didn't happen to him," Lucky put in, even though she wasn't in an optimistic mood.

"It doesn't matter." Everyone took a step back from the witch, who wasn't crying anymore. Her hair covered most of her face, but no one really wanted to see it anyway. "Pitch did this to Jester. Ergo, Pitch must die." No one objected. Not even Katherine, as she'd done so long ago.

"Well," Jack said, getting up with a last look at his friend, "I'll do it, if no one has any objections."

"I do," Sam argued. Her face was visible now; it was terrifying.

"Then shall we go hunt the Nightmare King?"

"Would you mind terribly if I didn't go with you?" Sam asked, her voice stoic. The lack of emotion in her's and the winter spirit's voice, as well as their more professional vocabulary, made the situation even worse. "I want to stay here with Jester."

"Understandable. Lucky, shall we go?" The spirit of luck glanced at the boy on the bed, and then at the boy at the door.

_Pitch did this to Jester. Ergo, Pitch must die. _

"Yeah," she said, taking on the same stoic tone. "Let's take Pitch for a ride(2)."

**Author's Note: 1- Goofy. **_**Goofy**_**. What do you think? (Hint: People standing next to shippers might want to move.) 2- taking someone for a ride so you can kill them.**

**I'm just, uh... I'm just gonna go now.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	19. Chapter 18

_Luck's Always to Blame_

**Author's Note: Uh... hi. Sorry about that. I had a "Let's not work at all at the start of summer vacation!" period, and... yeah. Sorry.**

**Thank you to Fancygirl229, Llatias (ACK I'M SORRY), Logic (hehehehehehe), Doc, SavageKill (MENTAL IMAGES), bbymojo (good guess :) ), Jinxed dragonfly, Motaku1235 (I love the name Magdalena :D it's so pretty!), SemiraBlake (1- FORESHADOWING FOR THIS CHAPTER 4- he is gay XD ), and Falcrow-42 (thank you! :D I love character compliments) for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: NO. NO NO NO. But I don't own Guys and Dolls.**

Chapter 18

"We need a plan." Frankly, Lucky was surprised that Jack managed to stay so calm in this situation. She was half-expecting him to have a nervous breakdown.

"Fire away," she replied, hands on her hips.

"I have a feeling that Pitch is going to strike soon, so we'll need to hurry. I think that he's trying to take our magic, like he did with Jester."

"Well that doesn't really need to be debated, mate," Bunny, who had followed, informed him.

"No, he wants ALL our magic," Jack went on. "That way, we can't fight him. He may want our souls, too, but I can't be sure."

"So what do we do?" Lucky prodded, feeling the inner workings of a plan form in her mind as well.

"A full assault on Pitch's lair would be satisfying," he told her. "Especially if it involves completely destroying it..."

"I'm game," Sam, who had decided to come after all, agreed, cracking her knuckles. Her hat cast a shadow over her face that made her even scarier.

"Then let's go right now!" Jack yelled, throwing his hands up.

"Right now?" Daisy asked, eyes wide.

"Right. Freaking. Now." He started running towards a window, gripping his staff in his hand, when a moonbeam sliced through the room and stopped him.

"What is it, my friend?" North asked the Man in the Moon, looking up through the ceiling windows. A silhouette of the Earth appeared (much to Daisy's delight), and it was peaceful for a moment. Everyone was just getting entranced by it's slow rotation when suddenly it cracked open, revealing the center of the earth as a nesting ground for Nightmares, which flooded out and completely engulfed the planet in seconds.

"No!" Mother Earth squeaked, running closer. Oonagh caught her collar and pulled her back, whispering that it wasn't real.

"Is that what will happen soon?" North asked, voice solemn. The equally grave stillness of the moonbeam served as a satisfactory yes.

"When?" Tooth asked, her usually happy face now sporting a worried frown. The Earth appeared again (no Nightmares, much to Daisy's delight) and rotated twice.

"Two days?!" Bunny exclaimed.

"Is that what that meant?" Lucky pondered.

"Is that all?" North asked the skylight. The moonbeam disappeared as an answer.

"So what do we do now?" Daisy asked timidly.

"I'm still game for storming Pitch's lair," Sam put in.

"Perhaps that can wait," Jack said, pacing faster.

"But we don't have time!" Tooth exclaimed.

"Then we MAKE more time," The Guardian of Fun stated. Lucky leaned against the wall, grinning. She had had the same idea, but frankly, tactician Jack was kinda sexy. "Who does Pops like the most?"

"Me," Katherine answered, raising her hand. "Well, at the very least, I visit him the most. We like to tell each other stories."

"Do you know where he keeps the key to his grandfather clock?" At this point, everyone's eyes widened, realizing what Jack was implying.

"Because of us bein' magic and the like, we'd keep movin' if time stopped," Oonagh confirmed.

"Then Katherine can go and steal the key tonight," Lucky declared, deciding to at least sort of take credit for the idea she also had. "But... does anyone know what happens if it isn't turned?" Everyone looked at one another. No one said anything. "Guess we'll find out! Katherine, you're up!" The spirit of luck whipped her bracelet off and threw it in the redhead's direction. Mother Goose looked at it uncertainly.

"I don't know about this," she said, rubbing the silver with her thumbs. "This is pretty risky. And Pops and I are friends, so I shouldn't be dishonest with him."

"This is just to buy us time," Lucky said, taking Katherine's hands in her's. Given the opportunity, she could be as maternal as the famous mother herself. "When we're ready, you can return it." Katherine's nose wrinkled, but she nodded and threw the bracelet. Pops' roaring fire illuminated the entire room.

"I don't know when I'll be back," Mother Goose informed. "I'd start planning now." Then she stepped through.

* * *

"Daisy." The little blonde girl looked up at Oonagh, fists clenched. "Me, Nightlight, an' the Guardians are all gonna be fightin' the Nightmares when they come, but that might not be enough."

"What do you mean?" Mother Nature asked, cocking her head. Suddenly, her satellite eyes lit up and she began to bounce on the balls of her feet. "Are you saying that I can fight with you?"

"Yes ya can." Daisy squealed and the grass around her feet began to curl. "We'll be needin' ya. In fact, ya can..." Daisy gasped, her little hands covering her smaller mouth.

"Are you saying...?"

"Yes," the Leprechaun Queen replied, eyes severe. "Whatever it takes." These were the words Mother Nature lived to hear. "Just... try to not KILL anyone, ya hear?"

"I promise to not kill anything except the mean Nightmares," Daisy swore, hand on her heart. Oonagh smiled.

"Good. Whatever it takes."

* * *

She saw it.

Katherine saw the key, in Pops' jacket pocket, and she didn't know what to do.

"And the gun was pointed right between his eyes, but the poor lad's hands were shaking something awful-"

"Pops?" Mother Goose asked, swiping her head. "Aren't you hot?"

"Hot?" Father Time repeated, brow furrowed. "Well, perhaps a little..."

"It's that fire," Katherine went on, taking off her yellow winter coat. "Yes, it's much better now."

"Now that you mention it, it is awfully hot," Pops admitted, taking his own jacket off and setting it on the side table, pocket up. "Yes, much better. Now where we were?"

"The sniper was about to shoot the ambassador," she replied, getting up. "Mind if I walk while you finish?"

"Not at all," he answered. "So I felt so sorry for the boy, and-" It was incredibly easy to take the key after that, and the feel of it in her pocket weighed on Katherine. Finally, not able to take the dishonesty anymore, she squeaked like she'd forgotten something and said:

"Oh dear, I forgot that Nightlight and I are... uh... supposed to meet soon." Pops chuckled.

"Go on ahead," he answered. "I've seen many like you two."

"Thanks," Katherine said hurriedly, throwing the bracelet and leaving without saying goodbye.

* * *

Lucky, Sam, Jack, Nightlight, and North were all there when Katherine stepped out of the portal. Nightlight rushed over and she dropped the bracelet and key, turning to leave.

"His clock had said 4:47," she told them. "You have less than six hours before time stops and potentially messes up the flow of the natural world."

* * *

Upon Jack's request, he and Lucky teleported to Burgess. Said something about how Burgess was magical and such, but she knew he was worried about his best friend and wanted to go home.

"No way," Lucky squealed, looking at the sign to the high school. They had been walking in silence and the sudden noise made Jack jump.

"What?" She didn't answer; instead, the spirit of luck took off through the doors, Jack scrambling to follow her.

Music and voices echoed through the small halls, and Lucky followed easily. The faster runner, Jack caught up to her and started running backwards, grinning at the stumbling girl.

"Maybe you shouldn't wear heels so much," he taunted, grinning.

"Don't even!" she barked, taking a sharp turn into the open door of the auditorium. An actor on stage seemed to have just started a song, and Lucky squealed again.

"This is my favorite play!" she exclaimed, hitting Jack in her excitement. He gently grabbed her hands and put them at her sides.

"Why?" And then he heard the lyrics:

_Luck be a lady tonight, luck be a lady tonight_

_Luck if you've ever been a lady to begin with_

_Luck be a lady tonight_

"Because they believe in me," she sighed leaning against the wall. Jack padded over to her, bouncing his staff on his shoulder. "I can see his life, you know."

"What do you mean?" he asked, brow furrowed.

"It's another power I have, one I haven't told anyone about. I can see his life, different futures based on different events. I think that one spirit, Magdeleine, the one who bit the dust, had the same power."

"So what do you see?" Jack prodded, glancing at the singer that Lucky was staring so intently at. He noticed that, this time, her eyes were all the colors of the rainbow. He didn't know what that meant, but it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

"There's a car crash, tonight," she began. "No injuries, but a man swerves off the road and has to stay here while his car gets fixed. _Guys and Dolls _is his favorite play, and he decides to drop in. Thing is, this man is a recruiter for Broadway, and he's on his way to California to look for talent. He finds everything he needs in this star, this Maxwell Schneider. The two go to New York after he graduates in a few months, and they both become famous beyond belief. He even marries his high school love- she's the assistant director, and at the moment she's certain he's gay."

"That's nice," Jack said with a smile, noticing how talented the star was.

"But there's another future," she replied, her voice sad. "The car doesn't crash; he keeps on driving, and finds another actor. He stars in one or two shows, but never becomes anything special. Maxwell's grandmother dies right in a February, and his dad grieves like nobody's business. His mother, who didn't really want her son after her divorce, visits and notices that the father has begun to hoard and worries about her son. She tries to gain custody of him, but it's too late. Turns out, Max is allergic to a certain type of mold. It grows in the shower. He dies two weeks after his eighteenth birthday."

"That's... not nice," Jack replied, his smile completely gone. His gaze drifted towards the stage; the song was ending.

"Yeah," Lucky agreed, "it's not. But something can change that." Before he could question her, the spirit of luck dashed down the aisle and gracelessly jumped on the stage. The last note was sung and the actors froze. Lucky stepped over them and right up to Maxwell, smiling and kissing him on the cheek, leaving a golden imprint that glistened and disappeared in the spotlight.

Jack swore he heard the sound of a car swerving off the road and the curses of his driver, saying he'd be late.

* * *

The two found seats and stayed to watch the rest of the play. A girl next to Jack complained about the cold, and the boy next to her took off his jacket and gave it to her. Lucky whispered in his ear that the boy had been in love with the girl since seventh grade, and that she was thinking of him as her hero at that moment, and they would get married as well.

You could say it was both couple's first date.

Jack and Lucky hurried out of the gym when the play was over, clapping for Maxwell and his granted fortune before scurrying onto the street. They walked through the snow in silence, both thinking about what to do with the Pitch situation.

And then Lucky heard a voice, and it became much simpler.

**Author's Note: So I'll try to upate sooner this time because 1) last time was totally unreasonable and 2) that's a cliff hanger.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


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